The Pure and Simple Truth
by Wolfschlitzen
Summary: The world is going to lose a hero and gain a villain. How far can one travel in the dark and still be offered redemption? KiGo
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters are from Disney's Kim Possible so don't get pissed at me. Also later use of the Green Wraith is the artist YogurthFrost idea. I truly hope he doesn't get angry with me for using it. The plot is primarily my own, with a few things snatched from YogurthFrost's plot idea. I think that's it. So now on with the story.

They say the pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple. That's truer than anyone could ever believe. The pale-green hued thief learned this lesson ages ago, yet she never expected it to be repeated in such a painful way. Standing up from her crouched position on the hotel's rooftop, the thief took stock of the night-draped city's skyline. If things had gone differently, she would have been out steeling some random object and fighting her favorite redhead. But no. That's something that was never going to happen again. In a horrible act of betrayal, the green woman lost the one that had been her opposite, her equal.

She never thought losing the redhead would be so painful. Hell, she had tried to end the younger girl's life on many occasions, so the amount of pain from losing the girl made no sense to the thief. However, since the betrayal the pale woman had begun looking at what her feelings had been towards the redhead. She knew there was strong respect for the girls fighting ability, maybe even a strong sense of kinship for the young girl. But nothing that would help explain why she felt such a sharp ache at the loss of the fiery redhead. Perhaps there was something more to the yin/yang aspect to them, the pale-green woman's yin to the younger girl's yang.

It didn't matter any more though. The redhead was gone, lost during their final battle. It was ironic. Their whole careers they fought against one another; yet, in the end, they were on the same side fighting against those that had sworn to uphold justice. Those very same dogs had moved to kill both women, but only succeeded in killing the one that was on the side of good. Even as her vision was filled with the darkened city, Shego, the most infamous thief, had her mind fill with images of that last battle.

The sudden crash from a nearby vent signaled the entrance of Team Possible. Kim Possible slid out and gracefully landed on her feet. Surprisingly, Kim wasn't wearing her usual t-shirt that showed off her midriff; instead she had on a normal black shirt and beige cargo pants. As soon as Kim was out, her bumbling sidekick, Ron Stoppable, tumbled out and hit the ground on his rear, dressed in his usual mission gear. Quickly getting to his feet and into his laughable mimic of a martial artist's stance, the teen-hero pair stood ready for whatever faced them.

The lair they had just entered appeared to be a dome with a platform and a catwalk that went along the entire edge of room. The platform was on the far wall, away from the heroes, bare save for the waist-high pillar with a large blue button on its top. Near the center, there was a large cannon that was connected to several large power devices and a few consoles. The weapon was not all that impressive save for its size, but that's not what caught Team Possible's eyes. Instead, it was the blue scientist on the dais and the green and black clad thief leaning against a wall nearby.

"Shego! I told you to warn me when Possible and the buffoon would be here!" Doctor Draken yelled from his platform.

Shego was still casually leaning against the wall when she responded to the blue skinned scientist. "Yeah, yeah. Just can it, Dr. D. I'll take care of Princess. I'm sure your greatest invention," Shego said in a mocking tone, "will be able to stop the dork."

"Oh, yes. I nearly forgot." The evil genius moved over to the pillar. Draken lifted his hand above the button before going into his mini rant, "Kim Possible and… er… what's his name… Never mind." He waved the forgotten name off like it was nothing. "You will not be escaping quite so easily this time! For this time-"

"Ok, hold on," Ron interrupted while holding his hands in the timeout position. "Don't you need to have already captured us before you can say escaping? And would it really kill you to remember my name, just once?"

"Um, well… yes to both parts. Because you see I already have you in my trap!" Draken said triumphantly. "Now I'll continue from where I was so rudely interrupted. You won't escape so easily! Because my greatest invention, the Super Nova Ray, will destroy Team Possible for good!" As soon as he was done talking, he burst into his evil laughter.

"Really, Shego, I kinda pity you. Having to put up with that all day?" Kim said with smirk.

Shrugging, Shego retorted, "He pays the bills, which is a lot more than what your sidekick does."

"Come on! Does everyone need to pick on me?" Ron whined.

Kim only looked at him sheepishly. "Well, it is sorta in the contract of being a sidekick, Ron. Sorry."

Sighing, Ron just waved it off. "Don't sweat it, KP. I'll get over it. Right now I think we should be worrying about the mission."

"Dr. D, just hit the damn button and get on with the plan!" Shego yelled. Pushing away from the wall she was leaning against, Shego stalked towards Kim. She ignored the blonde sidekick entirely and focused on the redhead before her. Once she was close enough Shego slid into a stance and motioned with her fingers for Kim to bring it.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Kim also moved into a ready stance. "Ron, go after Draken and try and shut off his Nova Ray." Ron nodded in agreement and took off after the mad genius. "Another death ray?" Kim asked Shego skeptically.

"Eh, his schemes do seem to be getting worse." As soon as the words were out of Shego's mouth, she sent a kick at the redhead's midsection. The teen-hero dodged easily to the side before countering with a punch to the raven-haired woman's side. Taking the hit, Shego jumped away from Kim. Smirking Shego asked, "You're using the battle suit again, aren't you, Pumpkin?"

A half smile of her own was playing on Kim's face. "Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it?" the redhead challenged the thief.

"I'll just have to take things up a notch," the pale woman responded. Letting her hands be engulfed with green plasma Shego took a clawed swipe at Kim. Knowing the redhead had the suit to protect her, Shego could let loose a little more. If there were any bystanders watching the fight progress, they would have been hard pressed to keep track of the two combatants. As the fight continued blows seemed to connect less and less, to the point that nether side was hitting effectively, making the fight a stalemate. Even so both were enjoying the fight too much to care that no one was going to win. It was only in these fights that Shego really seemed alive. She relished them, knowing they would always test her limits to the point of breaking. More than once she had been able to surpass her previous boundaries due to her intense fights with the young redhead.

Deciding to break the verbal silence, Shego asked, "So, Kimmie, how much longer do you think it'll take the buffoon to destroy Draken's toy?"

"No idea. It'll probably be soon. Did Draken set the lair to explode if the ray does?" Kim asked, dodging another attack from the green woman.

"Nah, he has the lair set up with a separate button." Shego shook her head before continuing, "What kind of an evil genius sets their own lair up with a self-destruct button?"

"All of them actually," Kim answered. "I think it has to do with that rules of villainy thing." Hearing a loud explosion, the two looked over at the Super Nova Ray only to catch it going up in flames with neither Ron nor Draken in sight. "Well, I guess Ron got his part done. Now I just need to get mine."

"Aww, you really want our play time to be up, Princess?" Shego asked in a taunting voice.

"Honestly? No. But I've got places I need to be." Kim dropped to the floor and let a leg sweep out trying to trip the older woman.

Easily jumping over the offending leg, Shego offered a retort in turn, "Sorry, Kimmie, but you're going to have to do better than that."

Right when the two squared off again, Ron's voice boomed over the lair's intercom. "KP! Above you!"

Both fighters looked up and spotted the dozen plus men on the catwalks. Neither could tell how they got in, but it was obvious to both they were Global Justice soldiers. Armed with submachine guns and short swords strapped to their backs they all took aim at the two women. Kim made a diving tackle at Shego, pulling them away from the spray of bullets. As soon as they hit the ground, the women took off in opposite directions, making for the catwalks above. Kim made her way up by jumping on the devices that had powered the ray cannon while Shego clawed up the wall with her plasma encased hands. Once the teen-hero got a hand on the catwalk she swung herself up, taking out one of the soldiers, and quickly making her way towards another. Shego launched herself off the wall at one of the GJ men, sending him to the floor below, and tossed a plasma ball at another. The two made their way around the catwalk dodging bullets and blows alike.

It almost seemed like they were going to defeat all of the men until Shego noticed the soldiers she had knocked down were getting up again. Amazed by their stamina the raven-haired woman feared that she and Kim were in trouble. Shego's fears were realized when she was shot in her left thigh, causing her to fall from the catwalk. As soon as she hit the ground one of the soldiers was already in her face aiming his gun at her head. Kim heard the cry of pain and immediately exploded across the room to get to her fallen enemy's side. Sending her left fist at the GJ soldier's face, Kim sent him flying. The only problem was it left her wide open to a counter attack, which was taken advantage of when a sword took Kim's arm off above the elbow. The teen-hero could only look on in shock as her arm became detached from her body before the pain burst into her head. Screaming out in agony, Kim fell to her knees beside Shego. Blood erupted from the wound as Kim covered it with her right hand, yet it still continued to seep out between her clenched fingers.

Shego recovered from her shock to send a burning ball of plasma at the man who took the redhead's arm. His screams of pain were almost louder than Kim's, but they were cut off much sooner. The pale-green woman stopped holding herself back as she stood to defend her arch-nemesis. Hurling burning death, she tried to spot a way out, but the only exit had too many soldiers blocking the way. Another clip went off and one of its bullets caught Shego in her right arm. Gritting her teeth through the pain, Shego continued to try and defend the two women.

Right as the GJ soldiers completely surround the two, the room was rocked with explosions. Using the distraction caused by the blasts, one of the soldiers tackled Shego away from Kim, giving another soldier an open shot at her. The final shot rang out in a moment of silence. Shego could only compare that moment to being in the eye of a storm. Chaos was all around, yet in the center there was peace.

Kim was on her knees as blood trickled out of the new wound in her chest. Her lips moved around silent words as she tried to speak. Finally getting her voice to work, she only said two words, "Shego, run." Then all hell came crashing down around them. The ceiling gave way in places, and the ground shook uncontrollably. Shego freed herself from under the soldier and made a mad run for the exit. She only had the briefest of moments to glance back and see Kim still sitting there on her knees, watching her, begging her to flee. It was the last time Shego ever saw her redheaded rival because even as she looked the ceiling came down atop the hero.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: First off I need to apologize to my beta reader for not thanking them for their help in working on Pure, so I'll do that now. Thanks, Rebelrsr, for your help, none of my writing would come out nearly as nicely without you. Next comment is I do plan on continuing this fic for a while, in fact I'm already working on the next chapter.

At Kim's command Ron took off for the demented genius. Tackling the Draken before he could hit the button on the pedestal, the two went tumbling away from the women. When the men separated, they both assumed martial artist's stances. After a moment of staring at each other's faces, they rushed one another. Once within arm's reach, they both began pathetically slapping at each other.

The blond sidekick closed his eyes as he continued to let his arms windmill in front of him, forcing Draken down a side corridor even further away from the real combatants. His assault, if one could call it that, caused the blue scientist to trip. Without opening his own eyes, Ron quickly followed.

"Gah! You stupid buffoon. Get off me!" Draken commanded.

"Hey! Hey! I really want to get up, but with you constantly moving I can't!" Ron yelled back at the downed scientist.

Ron rolled away from Draken and regained his footing first. Rufus finally decided to make his presence known by popping out of the blonde teen's pocket. Scampering across the floor towards the blue man, he looked over his shoulder and spoke in his strange accent. "Ron, 'utton' there" the small rodent said, pointing behind Draken at the large red button on the wall.

"You got it little buddy," Ron agreed. Knowing that his small friend could handle Draken the sidekick ran by the blue scientist for the button that had self-destruct written above it.

Turning and reaching out to try and grab the blonde teen, Draken was quickly assaulted by the naked mole-rat. Climbing around on him, Draken had no chance of snagging the small perpetrator. Finally shaking his leg hard enough, Rufus went flying away - just in time for Ron to hit the button.

A small blast sounded and Draken drooped in defeat. "That was my greatest invention yet," he whined.

Looking at the depressed and sad scientist, Ron just couldn't bring himself to attack him. Sighing, he went over and stood before Draken. "Ok, Dr. D, either we can fight and I send you to jail, or we could just talk and then you go to jail." Rufus quickly clambered up his owner and perched on his shoulder, nodding his small head vigorously.

Draken nodded. "Very well. I just don't understand it; my plots seem to be in a downward spiral lately."

"Hey, don't worry, Draken. We all have our good weeks and bad. I mean, even KP has her own," Ron said in attempts to try and cheer up the blue man.

As the two continued talking, they wandered aimlessly. Eventually, they found themselves in the lair's security room. Many screens showed camera views all across the base. One screen in particular caught Draken's eye. It showed the building fight between Kim and Shego from a side view. Ron spotted another that showed the two fighting but from a view that was above them. However, it wasn't the fight that caught his attention. In this specific screen Ron could see several armed men sneaking around the catwalk.

"Um, Draken, did you order armed henchmen to surround Kim and Shego?" the blond hero asked.

"Henchmen? There's no one else here other than me, you, Shego and Possible," Draken answered. At an irritated squeak, the scientist included Rufus in his count.

"Then if they're not yours…" Ron took another look at the screen and saw the armed men wore Global Justice uniforms. "They're GJ, but what the hell are they doing armed?"

"I wouldn't have a clue. Wait, are they aiming at Shego?" the doctor asked in a frightened tone.

"No… Holy shit! They're aiming at both of them. Please tell me you've got an intercom in here, Draken!" Ron shouted.

"Ye-yes. Over there," he said, pointing at a microphone sticking out of the counter near the security screens. "Quickly warn them!"

The sidekick moved with speed driven from fear and switched the mic on. "KP! Above you!" he yelled out over the comm system.

Ron watched on the security feed as the two arch-nemeses fought to protect one another against the hoard of Global Justice soldiers. Turning around to face the blue scientist, Dr. Draken, the teen sidekick asked in a desperate voice, "Isn't there anything we can do? Like activate some traps or something?"

Shaking his head sadly, Draken only shrugged in response. "There were no security devices set up in the main antechamber. I was strapped a little on cash, so I only set up the Super Nova Ray. Shego was supposed to take care of the rest."

"Well, Shego can't take care of the rest! Even with Kim working with her, they won't be able to beat all of those guys!" Ron yelled. "We should just go back up there and help them."

"And do what, buffoon? Act as a distraction and get shot?" the blue scientist asked. "No, the best we can do is try and devise some plan to help them."

Ron let out a scream in aggravation. "Come on there has to be something, anything. Bebes?"

"No, they were all destroyed in the last lair," Draken calmly answered.

"Hand held ray guns?"

"Hmm, the only one I made blew up in my face."

"Syntho-drones?"

"Haven't had time to set up a new batch."

"Earthquake machine?"

"Never built one, actually," Draken paused a moment before his whole face lit up with an idea. "But, we can destroy the lair."

"Whoa, hold on how does that help?" Ron asked, clearly confused.

"We can't act directly to help them but by having the lair start exploding it should give both Shego and Kim enough of a distraction to make it clear," the mad doctor explained.

"I'm not sure." Ron glanced back at the video screen to check on the two warriors. Focusing on Shego as a bullet ripped through the air and into her leg, Ron could only let his gaze follow her as she fell from the catwalk. "Shit, we're out of time. Where's the self-destruct, Draken?"

Turning on his heel, the doctor called over his shoulder, "Right down this way. It's near the secret exit I had installed last month."

Quickly the three, including Rufus, made their way through the lair to the exit the evil scientist spoke of. There it was, at the far end of the corridor, hardly bigger than Draken himself and sealed shut with a large heavy bar across it. To the right of the door was a red button that had a warning above it: DANGER! SELF-DESTRUCT BUTTON. NOT TO BE USED BY KIM POSSIBLE OR THE BUFFOON.

"Dude! Come on! You can't even remember my name for a sign?" Ron asked in a disgusted tone.

"Well… since I couldn't remember it, and the henchmen weren't of any help, it came down to what you see," the doctor said uncomfortably.

"It's Stoppable, Ron Stoppable! Just remember it for once!" the blond sidekick reminded Draken, for the thousandth time. "Gah! We don't have time for this; just hit the damn thing and lets get outta here."

"Gladly." With that the blue genius hit the button causing the heavy bar to lift and the door to swing open. "Quickly now, things will be coming apart even before we clear the tunnel to the outside."

Once again the trio sprinted off, this time into a dimly lit tunnel with a small light at its end. Even before they'd covered a quarter of the distance, the ground began shaking, and rumbling noises reverberated off the narrow walls. As they passed past the halfway point, the beginning of the tunnel began collapsing and larger explosions could be heard. Picking up the pace as the falling ceiling began gaining on them, the three burst through the tunnel's end just as the exit collapsed in on itself throwing a cloud of dust.

Coughing and trying to regain their breath, Ron, Rufus, and Draken slid to the ground and took in their surroundings. The first thing they noticed was that it was still night, and they appeared to be on the slope of the mountain the lair was built in. Noticing they were rather out in the open, Draken got up and started to move to a place that would offer more concealment or a way to rapidly clear the area.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ron asked the departing blue man.

"To a better hiding place or to the hanger," Draken replied.

"What about Kim and Shego?"

"What about them?" the doctor asked in return. "I know they can take care of themselves. So, if they made it out, then getting in contact with them again will be easy."

"I can't just leave KP in there by herself," the blonde sidekick said.

"Well, sitting outside a collapsed tunnel is certainly going to help her a great deal," Draken argued.

While their little argument waged on, a small scout helicopter flew overhead. The two humans would have missed it entirely, but a small naked mole-rat spotted it and warned his owner. Scurrying up Ron's leg and torso to his shoulder, Rufus tapped the blond hero on the cheek. Vigorously pointing to the sky, the rodent made out, "'ky chopper."

Both sidekick and evil genius looked up and saw the helicopter. "Well, Stoppable, looks like we have our answer. We have to leave, now," Draken informed the teen.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea. Where- hey! You remembered my name," Ron said happily. Hastily getting over his moment of joy, he went on, "Where are we going to go?"

"To the hanger that houses my hoverpads. One of them has cloak technology built into it," Draken said. Turning, he made his way to the hanger with Ron and Rufus on his heels. Crossing a very large open area, the three moved as quickly as they could to try and reach the safety of the hanger that was now in view.

The building was not overly large. Just a little over two stories tall, it stretched half the length of a football field, and about the same width. Painted the same as the ground surrounding the hanger made it easy to miss with a casual glance. Once inside, Ron spotted two hoverpads, both large enough to fit four people comfortably. Draken made his way to the one that was further away and started powering it up. "You sure the girls will be alright?" the sidekick asked, uncertainty coming off him in waves.

Looking over at Ron, the doctor simply shrugged, feeling that words would do nothing to assuage the younger man.

Rufus mimicked the blue man's response then boarded the craft. Not seeing anything that could be done, Ron followed his pet and strapped himself in. "Head for Middleton. We can contact Wade from there and get Mr. and Mrs. P to help," Ron said in a quiet voice.

As the hoverpad lifted off the ground it shimmered then vanished from view. The door in front of the pad opened and soon the trio was flying out and away towards Middleton.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Thanks to Rebelrsr again for their help in betaing this story. Hopefully this chapter will answer some of your questions, but also leave you with more.

As the sun rose over the horizon, the cloaked hoverpad descended into the Possible's backyard. Before Ron left the craft, he asked, "Truce till we get Kim and Shego back?"

The blue scientist nodded his head and said, "Yes, buffoon, we have a truce." Rummaging through the glove box, Draken tossed a strange device to the blonde sidekick. "If you need to get in contact with me you can use that."

"Thanks, Dr. D." Sneaking away from the hoverpad, Ron felt the air blast of the craft lifting off. Gently knocking on the Possible's back door, the sidekick waited with Rufus. After five minutes, Ron whispered to the small mole-rat to find a way in. Rufus quickly scurried off and was out of sight.

Another two minutes passed and the backdoor opened to reveal a blurry eyed Anne Possible in a robe. Rufus perched on her shoulder saying 'Ta-da!' "Ronald, what are you doing here?" Mrs. Possible asked.

Not wanting to alert Kim's mother quite, yet Ron answered with, "I need to use KP's computer so I can talk with Wade."

"Why not just have Kim use her Kimmunicator? Where is she anyway?"

"Um, we got separated." Growing increasingly uncomfortable, Ron decided to just work on getting in and explaining to Mrs. P later. "Look I really need to get inside and talk with Wade."

Looking at him with an eyebrow raised, Anne moved to the side of the doorway letting Kim's childhood friend in. "Alright, but after I get cup of coffee were talking about this."

Nodding his head, Ron ran to Kim's room and turned on the computer. As soon as it was up and running, Wade's face appeared. "Kim!?" His voice sounded frantic and he looked haggard.

"No, Wade, it's Ron. Kim hasn't contacted you yet?" Ron asked worriedly.

Shaking his head, he said, "Her Kimmunicator is busted, and the last vital signs I read from the battle suit were bad."

"How bad?"

"If what I read is right, her left arm was se-severed above the elbow and she-she was shot in the center of her chest," the younger teenager shakily answered.

Ron's face had gone to an ashen white at the news. The knowledge of the wounds was taking up the majority of his brain function, but the fact that Wade had been talking in past tense trickled into his mind. "Wait, why are you reading past tense?"

"Because I'm no longer getting live feed from the battle suit. There aren't many thi- …my God. Ron, are you near a TV.?" Seeing him faintly shake his head no, Wade popped open another window on the computer showing Ron the 'Worldly News'

A female reporter was just handed a new stack of paper. Shock showed on her face as she began to read, "This just in: the world famous teen-hero, Kim Possible, is dead. On a routine mission against the super villains Doctor Draken and Shego, Miss Possible's life came to a tragic end at the hands of Global Justice's number one threat, Shego. Kim Possible's heroism will be missed by people around the world." Tears actually formed in the reporter's eyes. "More details will be released at-" Ron closed the window before it could go on.

A sickening coldness settled in the bottom of Ron's stomach. Something about all this didn't make sense. Blaming Shego for Kim's death made no sense. The last the blonde teen had seen of the two they had been fighting feverishly to protect one another, not to kill each other. Another thing that didn't fit were the death wounds. Ron shuddered as the wounds crossed his mind. They didn't match with how Shego would have killed Kim. There were still more pieces of this that didn't add up such as the news coming too soon. No one else even knew about the mission, so how was it already known world wide? No, wait. Someone else did know. Global Justice

A new calmness took over Ron as he sat in front of the computer, "Wade, get me in contact with Betty Director, directly." His voice was cold as steel as he spoke.

"On it," was Wade's only response.

A moment later Betty Director, head of GJ, showed up on Kim's computer. "Ronald, I assume this is in regards to Team Possible's most recent mission? I assure you I had nothing to do with the order for there to be any Global Justice soldiers deployed, much less the go-ahead to use lethal force," Dr. Director began in a calm voice. "Things are far worse then you know. I no longer have time to tell you everything but concise to say my time in GJ is much shorter than expected. My control over this organization is being undermined. An important bit of information I was able to find was a set of liquidation orders. Kim and Shego were listed first; the rest were encrypted." Betty's one eye was constantly roving, looking for possible threats. "Mr. Stoppable, I'm afraid you must find a safe haven soon."

The sudden explosion in information left Ron staggering. If what Dr. Director was saying was true, then things were infinitely worse than he ever expected. Still having his doubt's, he asked, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't. I'm already taking an even larger risk by warning you, but I feel it's for the best that you and Mr. Load know," Betty responded in her normal calm and collected tone.

Thinking on it Ron decided to trust Betty Director. In the past they may have had their small differences yet he knew she was always working for the good of all and not willing to sacrifice others to do it. Nodding he said, "Where will you go?"

"I think it will be best if neither of us know the location of the other. I'll contact you again if it becomes safe enough. Until then, Mr. Stoppable." Doctor Director winked off the screen.

"Hey, Ron," Wade's voice kicked in. "Satellite imagery shows a black sedan heading for the Possible's place. I think it's GJ. Ron, it's probably better they don't know you're there. Go tell Mrs. P."

Nodding his head dumbly, it took a moment for everything to settle for Ron. Realizing what Wade said, Ron thanked him and ran for the door. Before the blonde left the room he turned around and asked, "Did you hear what Dr. Director said?"

"Yeah, and I believe her. I'll start looking for some rides for you that no one can trace," the computer wizard said.

"You might also want to think about leaving," Ron cautioned.

"I would if someone outside of Team Possible knew where I lived," Wade argued with a grin. "Go on to Mrs. Possible, quickly. The car's pulling up into the driveway!"

Ron nodded and went speeding down the stairs. Spotting Mrs. Possible leaning over a cup of coffee at the dining table, the blonde sidekick went over to her nervously. "Hey, Mrs. P, um, things look like they're getting really bad." Seeing she was about to say something, Ron went on. "GJ might not be everything we thought it was. I can't tell you everything right now, but some GJ guys are on their way, and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't let them know I was here. I promise once they're gone I'll tell you everything I can."

Anne had a skeptical look on her face at Ron's little request. She was about to say something, again, when the doorbell rang. Turning her head to look at the door in surprise, she glanced back at where Ron had been and found him gone. Shaking her head, Anne went and answered the door.

Standing in the door way were two men in black suits looking somewhat similar to secret service agents. "Hello, Mrs. Possible. Is Mr. Possible home? What we have to say will be important to both of you." The agent's tone sounded cold, robotic even.

Looking at them strangely, Anne answered, "No, I'm afraid my husband is still at his lab. I'm sure I can tell John what ever you tell me."

"Very well, ma'am. You may wish to take a seat. The information we have just came in, and Global Justice saw fit to inform you as soon as possible," the agent continued on in his impersonal voice.

"Alright. Please come in." Moving into the living room Anne still couldn't spot where Ron had disappeared to.

Once everyone was seated the agent that spoke before started up again. "Mrs. Possible, Global Justice regrets to inform you that Kimberly Anne Possible was killed in action. During her last mission against the villains Shego and Doctor Draken, Miss Possible's life was ended by Shego. Global Justice also regrets to inform you that Kimberly's body was unable to be recovered in whole; only her left arm was retrieved."

Anne could only sit in shock as she was told of her daughter's death. Ron's voice began filtering though her mind, 'We got separated', 'GJ might not be everything we thought it was'. They were lying; they had to be. Kim couldn't be dead. "Wa.. why… how?" The broken words fell from Anne's mouth as she tried to form coherent sentences. "How do you know?"

"Global Justice has always monitored Kimberly's missions. Even with observing Miss Possible on her last operation, we were unable to come to her aid before the lair she was operating in collapsed," the agent continued in his monotone voice. "That is the reason why we were only able to recover her severed arm. It appears to be sealed within her battle su-"

Anne cut the agent off before he could continue with his gruesome description. "That is enough. Th-thank you for telling me so quickly." Mrs. Possible slumped back in the chair.

Standing up, the agents gave one last parting comment, "Global Justice offers their condolences. We're sorry for your loss. Kimberly's arm will be delivered to the Middleton morgue." With that the GJ men left and a dazed Ron appeared near Anne. After hearing the agents say they found Kim's arm, everything Wade told him about his best friend's wounds finally hit. Kim might really be dead.

"Mrs. P, they're lying. They were there when Kim… when Kim was fighting Shego," Ron said softly. "GJ was actually fighting both of them together."

"Then my baby's alright?" Anne asked, suddenly sitting up.

"Um… I don't think so." Running his hand through his unruly hair, Ron went on, "Wade's last reading from KP's suit said she lost her arm… and was shot in the chest."

A glazed look came into the redhead's eyes. "She's really gone this time." Tears began to spill down Anne's face. "My baby's dead."

Ron uncomfortably went over to Mrs. Possible and gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. P. I-I should have been there with her."

Shaking her head, she said, "No, Ron. Kimmie-cub would have wanted you to live, not die with her."

Breaking the hug, Ron scooted away from Anna a little bit. "I don't know very much, but I think I'm going to have to leave and go into hiding, Mrs. P. I think GJ had Kim killed and tried to get Shego with her but failed. I'm going to avenge KP, I promise," Ron said solemnly. Rufus scampered up onto his shoulder and nodded with Ron's promise saying "'Venge!" Looking out the window to his own house, the teen-hero asked, "Could you tell my parent's I'll be fine?"

"Of course, Ronald," Mrs. P said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "How do you plan on leaving?"

"Getting Wade to ask for a ride to Japan. I have some friends there that'll be able to hide me," Ron stated as he stood up.

"If you're going to need Wade's help, I have something for you." Anne stood and went up stairs. A few minutes later she was back with something in her hands. "This was Ki-Kimmie's spare," she said, handing Ron the Kimmunicator. "Take care of it."

"I will Mrs. P," Ron said as he took the device, "Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: Sorta meant to mention in the last chapter I know that I'm having Ron act out of character but having a bumbling buffoon around really doesn't help much in a dark fic. I hope I'm keeping everyone guessing as to what's really going on and that you're all still enjoying the story, remember I love reviews. Now onto my usual thanks to my beta reader, Rebelrsr. You really helped this chapter a lot, without you it would have read like crap.

Shego had just made it clear of the mountain lair as it gave its final breath and collapsed. Covered in dust and blood, the green thief staggered to the wall outside the tunnel leading from the heart of the lair where she had last seen Kim. Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes as Shego thought about the hero. "Even as she was dying she was being a damn goody-goody!" the distraught thief yelled.

As the tears in her eyes spilled out, and Shego slid down the wall and cried. 'Why am I even crying over this!' Shego thought. 'She was my enemy; she was going to die someday anyway.'

'Because she was your only equal,' a voice in the back of her mind said.

'What does that have to do with anything?' Shego asked.

Instead of an answer from her subconscious, Shego heard the faint sound of rotor blades. Even with the cover of night, Shego knew she would be easily spotted if she kept sitting against the wall. She attempted to stand. It was harder than the woman expected because of the pain shooting up from the wound in her leg. After a few grunts and whispered curses, Shego stood and look around. Seeing nothing that would be overly useful, she thought of the best way to leave the lair. With the helicopter in the air, the pale woman thought using Draken's hoverpads wouldn't be the best idea so she racked her mind for other transportation. Shego remembered she had her motorcycle in the lair's garage. The only problem was that the entrance to the garage was some distance away in the forest on the slope leading to the lair.

Seeing no other options, Shego started limping toward the garage. After taking a few more steps, the thief noticed she was leaving a trail of blood behind. Shaking her head to try and clear it, Shego knew she had to close the wounds. Sitting down again, she lit up her left hand and let it drift over to the wound in her leg. Thanking whatever luck she had left that the bullet passed through and didn't hit a bone, she grazed her fingers over the openings to cauterize them shut. Gritting her teeth through the pain, the green woman nearly passed out and her hand winked out. With her leg taken care of, Shego looked at her right arm. The bullet had lodged itself in her upper forearm, just below the elbow. Blood still flowed from it freely, nearly coating her black glove in the dark red liquid. The thief fervently wished for something to bite on, but having nothing she decided it would be best just to get it over with. Letting her plasma engulf her left hand again, Shego clenched her eyes shut as she shoved her fingers into the wound and nabbed the bullet. With the piece of metal in hand, the pale woman screamed as she yanked it out, sealing the wound shut as she did so. Panting from the exertion, the thief looked around to make sure there weren't any Global Justice soldiers. Certain no one was around, Shego stood back up, careful to not put too much weight on her left leg, and made her way to the forest hiding the garage.

After making into the woods, the green thief thought she heard rustling noises. Immediately stopping, Shego listened. When it sounded like the noise was getting closer, she dove behind a rather large tree. A moment later the sound became clear enough for Shego to tell it was boots tromping through the underbrush of the forest. Peeking around the trunk, she spotted more the soldiers she had fought earlier in the lair. "Negative, there's no sign of the target," one of the soldiers said into a hidden mouthpiece. Having a bit more time to actually look at the men, Shego noticed their uniforms. They were the same blue color most GJ units wore, yet they had black gloves. The next difference was the helmets they wore. The helmet covered their entire head save for their eyes, which had a visor that made it impossible to tell where they were looking. Each of them had the same sword sheathed on their backs with their submachine guns out and ready to use. There were no distinguishable markings on any of them to denote rank or even belonging to any military at all. If the uniforms didn't have the same basic appearance as normal GJ units, Shego never would have guessed they belonged to the world wide agency. After a few more short transmissions the squad left.

The thief waited until the sound of the men had vanished before moving. Shego quietly slipped around the tree and continued on her way to the garage. She continued to walk stealthily through the forest until she caught sight of the facility. Before going into the clearing around the building, the thief scouted around looking for any enemies. Spotting two guards at the side door, Shego took note of them and continued making her way around the garage. Finding no one else, the pale-green woman sat down into a crouch to think about how to deal with the guards.

Rushing straight at them wouldn't be the best approach due to the wound in her thigh, so that meant either trying to take them out long range or sneaking up on them. Using her plasma to hit the guards from a distance would cause a large flash of distinct green light, something she'd rather avoid. She was hoping to leave the mountain without having a single Global Justice soldier spot her or even know she had passed by though. Knowing there was no way to avoid at least some small confrontation with GJ on the mountain left Shego with trying to minimize her interaction with them and staying as quiet as she could. With her decision made, the thief moved to the corner nearest to the guards, placing her back against the wall. She leaned around it to check the positions of the soldiers. The closer of the two had his back towards her while the other soldier was facing off into the woods. Both were highly attentive to their surroundings, unlike most guards. Shego had half expected to catch part of some mundane conversation between the two of them, yet she knew to expect more. These were hardened men, not the usual henchmen villains like Draken employed.

Choosing to act rather than wait, the pale woman struck. Flying around the corner, the martial artist slammed into the soldiers. Catching the closer one in the back of his head with a softly glowing fist sent him tumbling towards his companion. Reacting quickly, the second soldier dodged out of the way and raised his gun, only to have a foot catch him in the face. As the soldier stumbled backward, Shego pushed her advantage and used her tremendous strength to punch the man's neck, crushing his windpipe. The last blow caused the soldier to fall on his back, dropping his weapon and clutch at his destroyed wind passage trying in vain to suck in air. Shego gracefully stepped over to the first guard she took down as she listened to the other drum his feet on the ground. Kneeling down to the unconscious guard she viciously slit his throat with her claws. 'Every GJ bastard I come across is dieing for taking Princess from me!' The thief thought with a seething rage.

Shego stood up in shock. Where had that thought come from? And since when did she kill out of revenge?

'Since you lost someone worth avenging,' the voice from earlier said. In the career the pale villainess had chosen to follow, she was no stranger to killing. It wasn't something she delighted in and she tried her best to avoid it, but something within her demanded that she end every GJ dog's life.

'Did I really care that much about Kimmie that I'd kill those responsible for her death?' Shego questioned herself.

Her only answer was the final boot strike of the suffocating soldier. Deciding to follow her current line of thought later, the thief opened the door and dragged the first solder inside. Looking around in the near pitch black, she found the room looked like any other garage. At the far end of the room, to her left, was the main garage door. Directly across from her was the wall containing the workbench. Before looking around any further, Shego went back outside and grabbed the other soldier and lugged him inside and closed the door. Letting her eyes scan the room, the green woman spotted four lockers in the corner to her right behind the door. They were seven feet tall and about a foot wide… just large enough to fit a full grown man in. With a cruel smirk, Shego dragged the two bodies over to the set of lockers. Popping them open, the thief first looked through them before stuffing the bodies in. She didn't find anything of great importance other than a full length, deep-forest green leather duster. After shrugging it on, Shego remembered she had actually placed it there, when she had been tinkering around in the garage. Looking into the middle of the room, the thief hoped to spot one of her more prized possessions, a midnight black Kawasaki prototype Concours 14. While she had swiped the beautiful ride from the original makers, she had put her own upgrades and work into it, making it as much her own as those that had made its design. It was a perfect blend of her own personality: powerful, sleek, and demanding of everyone's attention.

Going over to the work bench, Shego opened one of the drawers and moved a few things around inside to gain access to a keypad. After entering the correct sequence of numbers, the bottom lifted up to reveal a secret compartment that held one object, the ignition key. Snatching it and grabbing a bike helmet off the bench, the pale-green thief slid the helmet on and mounted the bike. Starting the engine, she opened the garage door and peeled out into the night-covered forest heading for a city she hadn't been expecting to go to again for some time- Upperton.

Thinking about the city lead her to remember the last time she had been there. Ironically, it involved the redhead that was currently plaguing her mind, and the two had even been on the same side. They had been fighting against Avarious, one of the many villains Shego had fought when she was a hero, because her idiotic brothers had failed to defeat him on their own. Fighting alongside the petite girl had been exhilarating; in fact, it had almost been more fun to fight with her than against her. Maybe there really was more than just professional respect for Kim than what Shego had originally thought. If her memories were anything to go by than she really did enjoy being around the girl. But what more really entailed, though, the thief had no idea.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Once again thanks to Rebelrsr for help on the fic, couldn't do it with out you. Sorry for the slowness in updates and such short chapters. I'd love to make them longer but apparently my skill with writing only allows me what you see. Still I hope everyone likes what I put out and now to the story.

Since the death of Kim Possible crime, had been steadily growing worldwide. In the middle of Los Angeles, a figure stood on the rooftop of a warehouse overlooking Neo Genesis Research, ready to add another number to the statistics. The shadow wore a midnight black cloak, hiding all of its features, making even its gender a mystery. The building the thief was on was a multistory warehouse that stood across the street from the shorter, targeted building. Under cover of darkness, the thief took one more look at the other structure then pulled away from the ledge. Moving a good couple yards from the edge, the figure turned around and sprinted for the ledge. With the final strike of boot against pavement, the shadow launched itself from the rooftop. The cloak that normally wrapped around the thief fluttered out behind; yet, even without the cloak nothing distinguishable could be found in the dark moonless night.

At the height of the jump, the thief's cloak became stiff. Using the impromptu glider, the figure drifted down to the research facility's rooftop. When they got close enough, the cloak became slack again, causing the shadow to roll when they landed. Standing up, the thief went over to the skylight that was installed on the roof. Pulling out a strange device from under the cloak, the figure placed it on one of the sheets of glass. The single light on the device glowed red for a moment before changing to green. Reaching down the thief lifted the window up and open. Taking a small cord from their belt, the figure attached it to the skylights edge and grappled down. Once on the ground, the figure detached the cable and looked around. Finding themselves in a darkened board room, the thief moved to the door and opened it a crack. Spotting a camera looking away from them, the cloaked figure shut the door behind and moved silently into the camera's blind spot. As the camera started to turn back towards the place the shadow had been, the camera at the far end of the hallway began to rotate towards where the thief hid. Sprinting down the hallway, the thief stopped midway and turned to face double steel doors with a keycard reader on the wall next to it. Pulling a card from the cloak, the shadow slipped it in. Immediately a bolt retracted and the thief slid into the accompanying room and the doors shut behind them.

The room behind the door was huge. Easily spanning the length of a football field and twice as wide, there were dividers, made of glass, sectioning the room off into smaller areas. With the dividers in place, the room looked very much like a maze. The thief took off down the pathway directly in front of them, heading for a specific room Moving with amazing stealth, the shadow evaded the few remaining cameras between them and their first objective. Upon reaching the small glass room, the thief spotted several pedestals, each with a devise on it encased in a force field. The nearest pedestal held the first object the figure was after. Kneeling down, the shadow opened a panel exposing the wires that powered the protective field. Pulling out a wire cutter, the thief carefully snipped through the correct wires and the field above flickered and then went out. Quickly standing up the cloaked figure grabbed the item, placing it within the folds of the cloak, and left the room heading for a computer lab.

Once again, the shadow snuck through the glass corridors to arrive at a new area that held a dozen computers. From where the thief was, they could see several other labs, but what they wanted was in a specific computer in this room. Going over to a desk with the name plaque of Dr. Porter, the shadow sat down in front of the computer. Switching it on, the thief also pulled out a small thumb drive and inserted it into one of the USB ports. Hacking though the login, the figure moved through the files till they found what they were looking for. A quick copy and the desired files were on the thief's flash drive. Disconnecting the USB, the shadow turned the computer off, removed all evidence of being there, and made their way back to the board room. Climbing up the cable that was original used for entrance the thief retracted the wire and closed the skylight. Pocketing the gadget that removed the security on the window, the shadowed figure slipped down the fire escape, leaving the building none the wiser to the evening's activities.

Reaching the alleyway, the shadow moved over to a pile of trash and a large tarp. Moving over to the trash pile, the shadow lifted the tarp, revealing a motorcycle. However, there was a rather large difference between this bike and every other one out there. This one had no wheels. The body looked like a Honda DN-01, but in place of wheels there were pads. This very same experimental craft had been reported stolen just a few weeks prior to this night's heist. Mounting it, the figure started the bike and it began to hover. Gripping the handle bars with only their right hand, the thief began heading northwest from Los Angeles, aiming for the coast.

When the rider reached the beaches, they flew directly at the ocean. Instead of sinking into the surf, the hover bike did as it was expected and both rider and bike began floating over the waves. Picking up the speed, the cloaked rider angled their ride towards a distant island, hoping to make it there before the sun could even crest the horizon. Reaching the shores of the island, the thief placed the bike in deep shadow and covered it with several palm branches. After concealing their bike, the figure headed off towards the center of the island, where a large villa resided. The thief took an amazingly short period of time to break through the security surrounding the compound, even avoiding activating the turning-tops-of-doom. After breaking into the main building, the cloaked figure made their way to the center room that functioned as a study, complete with walls filled with books and a fireplace at the far end of the room. In front of the fireplace was a single chair with its back facing the door, which the thief made no effort to close quietly.

The sudden noise caught the man who had been reading by surprise, causing him to stand immediately. "What-what is the meaning of this intrusion?" a dignified, Spanish accented voiced called out.

"I have need of your facility here, as well as your immense wealth, Senior Senior Senior," a whispered voice came from the cloaked figure. Even if the speaker had spoken clearly, their voice wouldn't have been recognizable due to the voice distorter.

"What? Why would I even wish to aid you in what ever plan it is that you have," Senior asked.

"Because I know your villainous code of ethics, and it says if a fellow villain asks for aid, you are honor bound to help them," the distorted voice supplied.

"You speak truly. However, any business conscious man would first ask what it is he would be offering aid for and more importantly to whom," the old Spaniard wisely said.

"Fair enough." Silence fell across the room for a few minutes. "I seek revenge. Against whom is unimportant. It's enough for you to know that they betrayed me and everything I believed in. For their betrayal they will pay." The deep fury behind the words was easily heard. "I will crush them and destroy even their memory. There will not be a single thing remaining of them when I am finished." Throughout the entire tirade the figure's composure hardly shifted; only the voice had changed. After a moment the cloaked being began again, calmer. "But as with any long term plans, short steps will be needed. The tasks I'd require of you would be simple. As to who I am?" The figure turned to leave. "You'll learn that soon enough," and even with the distorter, a deep coldness showed through.

- - - -

Senior Senior Senior walked into his bedroom and unconsciously clapped to flick on the lights. Moving over to the four-poster, king sized bed the old man sat down on it and grabbed the phone on the nightstand. Dialing a number, he waited until a younger, albeit slightly higher, version of his voice answered, "Hello, Father. Why are you calling so early in the morning?"

"Junior, I will need you to leave your Caribbean vacation early. We have been asked to offer support to a new villain," the elder Senior said.

"But, father, I still have another two weeks here," Junior whined.

A tired sigh came from the old man. "Junior, just come to our villa on Anacapa Island."

"Why are we helping out this villain? Are they an old friend, father?"

"No, in fact this is a new villain and they have piqued my villainous interest. They have the makings of a fine villain," Senior said excitedly. "Sudden, unexpected appearance, distorted voice, a deep desire for revenge. They even performed a monologue; ahhhh, a potentially great, super villain."

"Very well, father, I will make preparations to arrive on the island," Junior said with a resigned voice.

­- - - -

The plane landed in the small hours of the morning in an airport in Osaka. Getting off the public airliner was a young blonde man, whose only possession was a small box, tucked under his right arm. Looking quite confused, Ron looked around for a face he could recognize. In the middle of turning, a feminine voice called out, "Ron-kun(1)!!"

Spinning to face the owner of the voice Ron's face split into a wide grin. "Yori!" Rushing to hug her in an awkward one armed hug, he asked, "How've you been?"

Yori returned the hug. "I have been fine, Ron-kun. It is you I am worried about. All at Yamanouchi learned of Possible-san's(2) passing, and we all mourn her."

"Yeah, Kim." Ron let out a deep sigh. "What do you know about her death?"

"What do you mean? We just learned of her fate at the hands of the akuma(3), Shego, yesterday," the young ninja said.

"I don't- I don't think Shego killed Kim, Yori," the blonde sidekick started. "I think…" Ron paused again. This time looking around nervously and leaning towards Yori, he whispered, "I think GJ killed her."

The ninja's only response was to blink. "Ron-kun, let us leave. Master Sensei is awaiting you and would like nothing better than to welcome you personally."

Nodding his head, Ron replied, "It'd be great to see Master Sensei again. How're we getting there?" the blonde asked.

"This way." Yori led the teen hero out of the airport and over to a waiting Explorer. After the two got in, Ron set down the box he had been carrying on the seat next to him. As soon as the box was down, the lid popped off, revealing a panting Rufus. "Rufus-chan(4)!" Yori nearly squealed.

The dazed rodent could only look around blearily as he breathed in fresh air. After his eyes focused, he spotted Yori and squeaked out, "'Ori!" Quickly scampering over to her shoulder, he hugged her neck in greeting.

"Hey, while you two say hi, I'm going to check in with Wade," Ron said. Pulling out the Kimmunicator that Dr. Possible had given him, the devise immediately connected to Wade's room. The screen showed the hacker's room, but it was lacking the usual object – Wade himself. "Wade? Where are ya, man?"

When Wade didn't show up right away, Ron took more notice of what he was seeing. The room had a lot of things out of place. The keyboard was off the desk, Wade's chair was knocked over, and the bookshelf that was normally in sight was toppled forward. Everything was beginning to point towards a struggle. "Wade?" Ron fearfully asked.

Both Yori and Rufus looked at the sidekick. "Ron, what is the matter?"

Looking up from the Kimmunicator, Ron said, "I think someone got Wade."

(1) -kun: informal and intimate used to address males mostly.

(2) -san: title of respect added to a name

(3) akuma: devilish person; devil; Satan

(4) -chan: used to express intimacy and affection


	6. Chapter 6

A/N- Just giving credit to Batman Begins for the cape I used in the last chapter. Sorry for not being specific in my jumps in time. Last chapter occurred about a week after Kim died. As usual, thanks to Rebelrsr for help on proofing this thing. Sorry but more Shegoness should come up next chapter. Also rather large note that I should have said earlier is this fic takes place in Kim's senior year. That means after the events of STD, but Kim and Ron didn't hook up.

The black Explorer arrived at the secret Yamanouchi School just around noon. The majority of the ride was spent in silence once the group realized Wade was missing. It was like all the supports of Ron's life were being systematically ripped out from under him. First, it was the center of his life – Kim. That was followed by the line between good and evil blurring. Kim was fighting to protect Shego, and Shego the same. Then there was Global Justice - the people world renown for standing up for what was right - committing the act of killing Kim. Last, Wade, the guy who was always there to offer support and information, was gone.

What was worse was Ron didn't even have a clue as to who had taken the young computer genius. It very likely was GJ, but Ron didn't want to think about that. Instead he chose to think that Wade just had to get out of town fast and hadn't had time to get in touch with him. If it was something worse, the teen-hero wasn't sure what he'd do. His number of remaining friends was shrinking faster than he could believe. He decided he would make a promise with himself. He would keep Yori and Rufus in sight as much as possible; he was not going to lose another friend.

By the time his inner thoughts came to a close, the car ride to the secret ninja school was over. Getting out of the vehicle he patted his pant's pocket to check for Rufus and followed a step behind Yori. Looking around Ron, found they were at the base of the mountain where the Yamanouchi were. Hiking up the mountain, the three approached a rather unassuming, short, one story building, typical of Japanese architecture. Walking through the large double doors and into the spacious court yard they were greeted by the head of the school, Master Sensei.

"Yori, I see Stoppable-san has made it back to us in one piece," the old man said as he bowed to the two. Directing his attention more towards Ron, Sensei welcomed him, "It has been too long since you have visited us."

"Yeah, Master Sensei. It's great to be back," Ron said slightly subdued.

"Ah, I see you are mourning the passing of Possible-san. It truly is terrible news to behold," Sensei consoled.

"Um, Master Sensei, is there a place that's more, ah, personal to talk in?" the teen asked.

"Yes, right this way, Stoppable-san." The old teacher led the group through the courtyard into a quiet garden. "This garden is far away from prying ears, so you may speak freely."

Ron went over and sat down on the stone bench that faced a lotus tree. Looking at its petals he noted that they seemed to be an incredibly dark shade of pink, deep enough to remind him of Kim's hair. Tears began to build up in his eyes but Ron knew he could shed them later; right now he needed to tell Sensei and Yori everything he knew. "Master Sense, GJ had Kim killed."

If the news shocked or surprised the wizened old man he hid it well. "What has led you to believe this?"

"A lot of things. The most concrete of them would be I saw GJ goons the night Kim was… was murdered," the blonde teen answered. Unable to continue sitting still he got up and began to pace. "Betty Director, the old head of GJ, told me herself that power was changing hands. She's even gone into hiding. Another thing she told me was they had an order out specifically targeting Kim **and** Shego."

"And you are certain that this Director-sama has not lied to you?" Sensei asked.

Not even bothering to stop his pacing, Ron nodded. "She warned both Wade and me. I got out of the States a week ago and just today I got here. Wade never thought anyone even knew where he lived, so he stayed put." Stopping, the blonde sidekick faced the old martial artist. "Master Sensei, I won't fail any more of my friends. I need more training. I need to get better."

"Stoppable-san, what happened to Possible-san and Load-san, you could do nothing to prevent. It was not your fault," Sensei tried to convince Ron. Bowing his head, he agreed, however, "I do, however, understand your wish to become stronger to protect those that remain. I will grant you access into the training grounds in the Yamanouchi, once again, in addition to offering you our home as a safe haven."

Ron bowed in respect. "Thank you, Master Sensei. Thanks for all of this."

"There is no need, Stoppable-san. We are family here and we will do all we can to help each other," the old man said. "Before you begin your training, I'd recommend you rest first." With the parting words Master Sensei left the two teens.

"What Sensei says is true, Ron-kun," Yori said. "It was not your fault that Possible-san died or that Load-san is missing."

Ron sat down heavily on the stone bench. Putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands, Ron shook silently. "I know, Yori, but I was her best friend, her partner. I was supposed to have her back," the young hero choked out through the thick emotion. "She ended up going down with Shego at her back. Shego!" the disbelief was clear in his voice.

Sitting down beside Ron, Yori hesitantly put an arm around his shoulders. The two sat like that for some time, just letting the wind blow gently past. Finally, Yori spoke again, "Ron-kun, I know it's hard to believe but I doubt there was any more you could have done."

Still in their embrace the sidekick lifted his head to face the ninja and agreed, "I know that in my head, but my heart keeps saying I could have done more. I failed her, Yori." The normally carefree teen broke down.

The petite girl just held the crying hero. Rocking ever so gently, the ninja said, "Then become stronger. If your heart demands action, then direct the energy into building yourself up. You have taken a good first step by asking to train here. Now you must put your heart and mind into your training." By now Ron had gotten his emotions back under control, so Yori released the hug and stood up. "You should rest as Sensei suggested, Ron-kun. I can take you to your room if you would like."

"Yeah, that'd be great." The two left the garden and made their way to the students' sleep quarters. Opening one of the paper sliding doors, Yori directed Ron into the rather spars room. There was nothing in the room other than the small candle lamp and a sleeping mat. The ninja turned to leave, but before she could Ron said, "Yori," she looked back to face him, "Thanks."

The brunette smiled at him as she nodded and left. Settling down onto the mat Rufus crawled out and sat down on Ron's pillow. Yawning he curled up into a ball and fell asleep. "Good idea, little buddy," Ron commented before acting similarly and let his mind drift into a dreamless sleep.

Waking up, Ron stretched and around his room again. If he didn't know better he'd say it was the same room he got last time, but, knowing all the rooms were so similar, he could be wrong. Something new caught Ron's eye - a white training gi near his mat.

Ron began wondering out loud, "But how did?" He knew he could be a heavy sleeper, but Rufus hadn't even been woken. "Wait… ninja school; why'd I even ask?"

Getting up the teen put the gi on and stepped out of his room, shutting the screen behind him and placing Rufus on his shoulder. Catching sight of a few other students Ron followed them. Eventually they led him to Sensei, who Ron could ask for more directions on where to begin his training.

"Sensei, I don't really know where to start in my training," the hero confessed, "I mean I know I want to improve but I don't know what to focus on."

The old martial artist sat across from Ron in the open room the two now sat in, while Rufus sat silently next to his owner. Reaching for the tea cup in front of him, Sensei spoke, "I believe it would be best if you focused your attentions on a particular martial style to begin with. Focusing on a style will help show where your weaknesses lie." He took a sip of his tea before continuing, "Focus on the bo staff. The weapon works in tandem with your Tai Shing Pek Kwar."

Both Ron and Rufus shuddered at the mention of the Mystical Monkey Power. Ron, however, managed to nod. "I will start there, Sensei." He moved to leave, but the Master made one last comment.

"Do not forget your other areas of training, such as meditation. All forms of training will help you become stronger, Stoppable-san," the old man solemnly said.

Nodding again, the teen and mole rat left to find the staff training area. Finding the space filled with other students practicing the bo staff, he went over to the weapons rack. With his trademark coordination, Ron managed to grab the staff he was after but also caused all the others to fall to the ground with a loud crash. Chuckling at his clumsiness in the ensuing silence, the blonde scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry?"

Rufus only shook his head and picked up a twig that would be a bo staff compared to his diminutive size. He hefted it to test its sturdiness, and then proceeded to twirl it about himself as though he had practiced with it day and night for his whole life. When the small rodent finished, the entire bunch of students had completely forgotten about Ron's little mishap. Looking at Rufus gratefully, the teen slipped into one of the rows of students. Once the disruption was out of the way, the class resumed their practice. The blonde teen was able to keep up with other students, with a few mistakes. The group of ninjas followed what their instructor performed before them. He would move the staff into a new position and the students would work to mimic the movement and position. Ron's natural lack of grace caused numerous problems in the lessons.

After several grueling hours of the kata training, students would pair off and practice what they had just learned on each other. Ron failed to defeat a single one of his opponents on his first day; in fact many of the fights ended with him depantsing himself. Rufus watched his owner with a great many sighs and hid his face in his paws. After the sparring was finished the ninjas-in-training left to begin their self exercises. Ron chose to work on his staff kata. He didn't know what he wanted to accomplish specifically, but he did know just sitting in deep meditation wouldn't do it for him. Perhaps one of the characteristics of Kim that rubbed off on Ron was her need to be in constant motion.

Thus began Ron's daily routine. Waking up he'd go and train with the other students, learning new kata from the teacher. Breaking after that, the hero would move into sparring, where he slowly began to improve against his opponents. Even with the improvements, Ron was still prone to losing his pants. For most of his waking hours, however, the teen still felt troubled over Kim's death. It was only during his solitary training did his mind gradually begin to calm down. Each slow and practiced move helped to quiet his inner turmoil. Of course, meals were interspersed between each session. The meals were actually the only times when Ron could meet and talk with Yori. The small friendship the two had was beginning to strengthen over the time they spent together.

"Ron-kun!" Yori called out as she scanned the courtyard where other ninjas were eating. "Ron!" she said again. Finally spotting the blonde youth, in a far corner that had a lotus tree, she made her way over to where Ron was sitting. Having positioned himself in a strategic location to offer him complete line of sight of the whole yard, Ron looked around through squinted eyes then turned to the wall and motioned for something to move forward. That something was a luggage-loaded Rufus. The mole rat quickly scampered off the top of the wall and down to Ron's leg. Bending down surreptitiously to pick up the item, he carefully unwrapped the pouch. Hidden inside was a naco, the prized food of the fast-food gods. Yori giggled at the lengths Ron went to for his daily intake of fatty Mexican foods. "Oh, Ron, you and your silly American ways."

"Hey, it's not my fault I can't survive off just rice and raw fish," the teen said to defend himself. Sitting down against the tree, Ron started eating the smuggled nacos. Rufus pulled some nachos out of the bag, causing Yori to eye the sack suspiciously. Apparently it could hold a great deal more than its size gave credit to. As the two began their meal Yori sat across from the blonde, cross legged.

"I have noticed your improvement with the staff, Ron-kun," Yori commented.

Swallowing the bite he had in his mouth, Ron said, "Yeah, I've been getting the steps down but it's been going slower than I want."

"We all progress at our own pace."

"I know but I'm just not going fast enough. I want to be able to take on the guys that took KP out, and at the rate I'm going I'll have a better chance of them dying of old age," the blonde said glumly. Rufus nodded and squeaked his agreement.

"You should not focus on the future so much. Live in the here and now, Ron-kun," Yori placed her hand on Ron's knee as she finished. Removing her hand the female ninja remembered why she had sought Ron out. "Oh, Master Sensei wishes to speak with you."

Stuffing the remainder of the naco into his mouth, the teenhero spoke around the food, "K, I'm on it." Picking up his naked mole rat buddy, Ron left the courtyard, waving to Yori as he did so. The blonde was slightly curious as to why the Master wanted to speak with him specifically. Ron hadn't been summoned to the wizened old man since he had arrived, so he had a small reason to be suspicious.

Ron bowed as he entered Master Sensei's presence, then knelt. "Sensei, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Stoppable-san. I have noticed you have been making excellent progress in both your style and strength since coming here. But you have been here a full three months and yet you still are no closer to focusing your inner self than when you first arrived." Stopping for a moment to take a drink from his tea cup, Sensei continued, "Something within you is keeping you from reaching your full potential."

"Yes, Master Sensei, I've kinda felt the same thing," Ron agreed as he embarrassedly put a hand behind his head. "I mean when I practice my kata alone, I do fine but when I'm with the group or sparring, it's like all the calmness disappears."

Nodding sagely, the old man said, "I believe the source of your problems is that you have not come to terms with Possible-san's death."

"But that's why I'm here. So I can go back and prove that KP was murdered," Ron argued.

"Coming to terms does not mean avenging someone. It simply means that you have accepted their death. That is what you have been lacking, Stoppable-san."

"But I… I mean…" Ron stopped for a moment to think. To actually think hard and deeply about this. Kim had been his best friend since pre-K. How did someone really get over losing a friend like that? The fact he didn't have an answer sort of proved what Sensei had said was true. "I guess you're right, Sensei. But I don't even know where to really start with it."

"That is what you must discover on your own," the old Japanese Elder said.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Once again thanks to Rebelrsr for help on the fic, couldn't do it with out you. Gah! Sorry but no Shegoness this chapter. I promise though – next chapter will have her in it.

As Ron left Sensei's quarters he thought about what he was told. 'So, I haven't come to terms with KP's death. But how am I supposed to do that when I didn't even have enough time to give her my respects.' He continued to wander aimlessly through the ninja compound, just letting his mind mull things over. 'I guess one thing that doesn't help is that no one ever found her body, making me think she's going to pop up somewhere.' Ron's thoughts were shattered as he heard someone yelling at him.

"Stoppable-san!" It was his bo-staff teacher. A simple way to describe him would be to say he was a Japanese Mr.Barken, but that only worked to explain his personality. His stature was average for his people, but he still seemed to loom over Ron. His deep brown eyes regarded the blond before him, and then prodded him with the staff he carried. "We are about to begin a special session; you'll be needed."

"Yes, Tarō-sensei." Making a quick bow, Ron sprinted off for the training yard. The first thing he noticed that was different about this session was the larger number of students. The next was that the extra students were ones that practiced the other weapons that the school taught. Since everyone was already in their weapon groups, Ron went to the bo-staffs. He didn't even make a scene. The few murmurs of conversation dropped off when Master Sensei came onto the platform in front of the assembled students.

Looking over the small crowd of ninja, Sensei spoke, "Today all of you are to spar against your chosen weapon's opposite. The objective is to realize your weapon's weakness and to improve upon them, use them to your advantage. Each weapon has its opposite, its other half that helps to complete it. When they are set against one another they help to build each other up, making both stronger." The old man continued as Ron began to think about what was being said.

'Opposites… I can't think of a better example of that than Kim and Shego. I mean, Kim was everything Shego wasn't; selfless, kind, mature… non-plasma-y… they really were the other's opposite.' Ron let his mind wander over the two women's differences as he continued to listen to Sensei.

The short elder turned his attention on the staff wielders and steel fans. "The first weapons that will be demonstrated will be the bo-staff and steel fans. Both the style and appearance of the each instrument clash against one another. The staff is modest and simple in appearance and use, designed to protect the wielder by keeping the opponent at arms length. All the while the fan is exotic and aggressive. They orient themselves around getting in close and destroying the opponent's defenses. Suzuki, Stoppable, if you would demonstrate." Ron was caught by surprise by being asked to come forward while Yori calmly moved before Sensei. The two bowed to him, then to each other. Taking up their stances the two watched the other for the first sign of movement.

Yori started off by taking a few tentative steps forward, watching Ron's reaction. When his position didn't change she moved in closer. Just when she was out of reach of her opponent's staff she dashed in, hoping to catch Ron by surprise. The speed that Yori went at the blond startled him for a moment before getting his weapon up. The staff shot up to get the fans edge imbedded in it, blocking the blow from landing on his right arm. As Yori spun around, yanking the fan free and building momentum for her next attack. Ron flipped back landing in a crouch, letting his staff swing out at her feet. Jumping over the attack, she moved in again, attempting to strike his head. He whipped the staff up to defend himself, the wood moving so fast it appeared to bend from the speed.

As the fight continued, Ron's thoughts became more distracted. 'Wow, I never noticed how even KP's and Shego's fighting styles were opposites. Shego was always hard, fast strikes, moving to the offensive whenever she had the chance. She was like fire, burning and destroying anything that got close. I mean, hey, she could make green glowing fire from her hands! Kim, though, seemed to flow like water, every attack against her she turned on her opponents. Bobbing and weaving through everything that came. Speaking of bobbing –' Ron barely had enough time to duck under the fan as it cut some loose hair from his head as it passed. Turning the duck into a roll, the blond came up on Yori's right side. He thrust his staff at the opening, but Yori deflected it at an angle, causing the staff to narrowly miss her. Turning with the blow she lifted her leg, keeping it tight to her, and pivoting on her heel. Once she had turned far enough her foot came out to take Ron heavily in the back.

Stumbling forward the teen thrust his staff into the ground flowing with the momentum from the previous kick he swung up onto the staff. Using the staff as a pole he spun around it sending his feet at the brunette's chest. Yori didn't even have time to get her fans up to block the attack, taking the hit full force she flew a few feet before landing hard on the stone ground. "Notice how the two are building off of each other's attacks? Suzuki is using her speed to move inside Stoppable's reach, while he in turn is using the attacks against Suzuki," Sensei intoned. "The more often you fight against your opposite the more you will learn; about your opponent and yourself."

Once more the blond's thoughts drifted to Kim and Shego after Sensei's comments. 'Huh, I wonder who knew Kim better by the end, Shego or me?' Ron asked himself. 'I got to know her by living with her day in and day out, but Shego got to know KP by fighting with her. If my training has taught me anything it's that fighting is as much a form of talking as anything else. Wait…'

Stopping in mid stride, Ron was on one foot with the staff extended forward when he exclaimed, "I got it!" stunning everyone watching. Yori took advantage of his apparent epiphany and lashed out with a foot to the leg he was balancing on. Ron inevitably came crashing down onto the floor. Sensei had a ghost of a smile on his face as he shook his head. "The rest of you may begin sparring. I believe there is something I must speak with Stoppable-san about."

Getting up off the floor, Ron bowed sheepishly to both Yori and Master Sensei. "Um, sorry about that. It's just I suddenly got an idea that might help dealing with KP's death."

"And what would this thought be?" Sensei asked, as he motioned the pair to follow him.

"Sensei, Stoppable-san, I will take my leave and return to the other students," Yori said as she bowed.

Stopping her bow the old man suggested, "You should follow, Suzuki-chan. That is of course if it is alright with Stoppable-san."

Agreeing the two students followed the master out into the garden that the three had spoken in when Ron had first arrived. "I thought of something to get closure on Kim." Seeing the others waiting for him to go on, he continued, "I need to talk with the person that knew her almost well as I did; in some ways even better."

"Who could have known Possible-san better than you Ron-kun," Yori asked.

Looking at the red tinted lotus tree, Ron answered, "Her opposite; Shego. The two fought almost weekly, add to the fact that they had near polar opposite personalities and she was there in KP's final moments, she might just help me in getting over Kim's death. Who knows she might even help with doing something about KP's murder."

Sensei regarded Ron for a moment before asking, "Are you suggesting that you leave Yamanouchi?"

Shrugging his shoulders, "Well you were the one that said something was keeping me from reaching my full potential. I honestly think this could help."

"Very well, but if you are to leave I would require that you take Suzuki-chan with you," Sensei decreed.

Yori merely nodded her head but Ron asked, "Um, not that I'm against it but why are you sending Yori with me?"

"Because, Stoppable-san, you are alone right now, both Possible-san and Load-san are lost to you," Master Sensei turned to leave and said one last thing. "And I would not want a member of our family alone in this world."

The blond teen was a little blurry eyed at the admission, and said in an emotion choked voice, "That means a lot to me, Master Sensei." After Sensei left, Ron turned his attention on Yori. "So, I guess that means we have our first mission."

"Yes, it is. It will be just the two of us so it may prove to be difficult," Yori said.

Rufus suddenly appeared on Ron's shoulder as though he had been there the entire time. "'An me!" the little rodent added.

Chuckling behind her hand the brunette agreed. "Yes, and you Rufus-kun. Where do we begin Ron-kun?"

"Starting will be easy, it's going to be the step right after that'll be hard." Moving to his sleeping quarters, he looked through the items he brought with him from the States. Finally holding the item he was after up, Ron showed it to Yori. It was the strange device Draken had given the sidekick the night everything went wrong. "We'll need to get in contact with Doctor D and hopefully he'll know where Shego is."

The device reminded Ron of an evil looking Kimmunicator, black with fewer buttons. After switching it on the screen finally came to life showing the back of Doctor Draken. "Hey, Doctor D, you ever meet up with Shego?"

The blue scientist looked shocked at first before remembering the little pact he had made with the buffoon in the hours after Kim's death. "Oh, yes. I did, it was just a few weeks after Possible's death. It was at a safe house we had agreed on for meeting up in if we ever got split up. It was a rather nice safe-house, satellite TV, Villain's Weekly, nice decor…" Draken started to ramble on.

"Come on, Doctor D, focus here. Where's Shego now?" Ron asked.

Suddenly coming back to the conversation, the blue man said, "I don't know. And why would you want to know? You're not going to try and put her in jail again are you?"

Rolling his eyes before answering, "No, I'm not. I just want to talk with Shego because she was with Kim last."

Thinking on things for a moment, Draken finally gave in, "The last thing she told me was she was going to go look for someone that would know about 'her Kimmie's' death."

Ignoring the strange wording the blond asked, "You have any idea where she could be?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Draken answered, "I think she said something about Europe. Maybe even something about Italy specifically."

Sighing in annoyance, Ron thought 'No wonder Shego was always threatening him.' "Come on, Draken, you have to know something more than that."

Huffing at the sidekick's insistence, the blue man asked, "If I find out what city will you leave me alone?"

"Yes, now come on, cough up."

Disappearing from the screen, Draken came back in a few minutes. "She's in Rome somewhere. Or at least her jet is."

"Are you sure Shego's in Rome?" Ron asked.

"I'm not positive; she left here a month ago with her jet and has been jumping around the globe with it since," Draken said in an exasperated tone. "Tracking her is near impossible if you don't know exactly what you are looking for."

"Been keeping tabs on, her haven't you?" Ron asked.

"Nnn-no of course not. I'm evil; why would you think I'm worried about Shego's safety?"

"Rriiigght," the teen replied, drawing out the word. "It's alright; I won't let Shego know you've been watching out for her."

"Really? You won't?" the blue man asked in a quiet voice.

"Yeah, I mean, I would have been doing the same thing if it had been KP that survived," Ron said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Thanks, Doctor D." Shutting off the device the blond turned to Yori. "Well, looks like were going to Rome."


	8. Chapter 8

The trans-Atlantic airliner landed in Fiumicino Airport shortly after night had fallen over the ancient city of Rome. As the landing gear of the plane extended from its wings, two figures appeared on the right wheel. When they were but a few meters from the ground, both leapt from the wheel and rolled as they landed.

Having no other light than the runway illumination and the glow from the moon the ninja softly crept from the landing strip to the chain link fence. The taller figure cupped his hands as the smaller took a sprint at him. When there was less than a foot between them, the shorter figure jumped, placing her foot in the man's hands and together they launched her over the fence. Landing with hardly a sound, the woman kept an eye out as the man took a running jump over.

Both slinked over to an obvious rental vehicle. The Peugeot 206's brown finish was rapidly turning into a more rustic one. It hardly looked safe enough to get into, much less drive in for any considerable distance, yet the two ninja quietly got seated. Once inside, the man reached up and removed his mask revealing messy blond hair. "Well, Yori, looks like Doctor D actually can do some things right," Ron commented.

Yori mimicked Ron and took off her own mask. Shaking her head to loosen out her brunette hair, she agreed, "Yes, Draken-sama appears to have gotten the vehicle in the right place, but I was expecting it to be… in better shape." As she spoke, her hands moved to a nearly invisible pocket on her right leg. Opening it, she pulled out the strange device the mad scientist had given Ron, those few short months ago.

While Yori was retrieving the communicator, Ron let Rufus out of his own leg pocket. When the small, pink face appeared, the blond smiled. "Hey, little buddy. Plane ride's over."

Yawning and stretching, the tiny rodent got free of the confining pocket and moved to settle on the dashboard. Both watched Yori as she turned on the device and waited for Draken's face to appear. After a few minutes, the blue doctor stumbled in front of the screen, wearing a night cap and yawning. "Do you people know what time it is?" he asked.

"Yeah, somewhere around ten your time, right?" Ron retorted over the brunette's shoulder.

"Yes, and I was happily asleep, thank you," Draken said as he glared at the buffoon.

"Dude, it's ten. Even I get up at ten."

"Enough of this," Yori interrupted. "We need more details on where Shego-hikoku (1) placed her jet."

Noticing the woman was glaring at him as though she wanted to hurt him, Draken decided it would be best to find where the green-skinned thief landed, quickly. Turning to his computer, he hit a few keys and soon a green dot was blinking on a screen that showed a map of Rome, Italy. "It looks like Shego landed in an old coliseum that she's upgraded to act as a hanger. If I remember right, its security is probably better than most of the lairs I've used."

Sighing once more, Yori asked, "Where is it?" Emphasizing where.

"Oh, yes. It should just be a few miles northeast of where you are. Nothing else is around it for quite a distance," Draken said.

"That is all we need. Thank you, Draken-sama." Yori turned of the communicator and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Infuriating man."

"Yeah, Doctor D does have a way with getting to people," Ron agreed. "So, think we should head out?"

"Yes, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can speak with Shego-hikoku."

Nodding, the blond started up the rental and the three were off to the ancient structure. After having left the airport behind only a few minutes ago, the scenery rapidly changed to large, empty fields. "I think we're almost there. We should continue on foot from here," Ron suggested as he came to a stop and turned off the vehicle.

Yori nodded her head and donned her mask again. Getting out of the car the three silently made their way through the wild fields. Continuing on for another half hour, the ninja finally spotted what looked like the ruins of an ancient coliseum. Its tall stone walls were still standing, as though in testament against everything time had thrown at them; weather, wars, even the worst humanity had to offer. However, unlike its powerful walls the gate had not held up as well. It had collapsed ages ago, keeping anyone from entering the ruin.

Sneaking up to the wall, Ron motioned for them to go up and over it. Reaching for their belts, the two ninja removed hand claws that were meant for scaling walls. Once he got the gloves tightly strapped onto his hands, Ron tested to see if the wall would be able to support his weight. Only a foot off the ground, the ninja could tell that this was not going to be difficult. The claws easily dug into the old mortar and stones offering good holds. Once Ron got started on the climb, the naked mole rat scampered out of his pocket and scurried on ahead to act as scout. Yori swiftly followed and soon all three were atop the old ruin without a single sound.

Rufus shook his head, indicating that there were no monitoring devices anywhere. Ron shrugged his shoulders, and nodded for Yori to go. Quickly sliding down into what had once been the spectator stands, the female ninja ran as silently as she could through them to get to the edge of the actual arena. Taking one more glance around she quietly dropped to the arena floor. Still having not tripped any alarms, she signaled back to her waiting partners to come. Following in Yori's steps, the other two covered the distance rapidly to catch up with her.

Once all three were down on the arena floor, they made their way over to where the old gladiatorial entrance stood. It was large enough to fit two men abreast and nearly tall enough for Ron and Yori to stand on each other's shoulders and pass under. Noticing there was no handle or any other means of opening the door, Yori started feeling around it. After testing a few bricks she finally found one that was actually a false front. At last the trio found evidence that the modern world had tampered with the old place. Under the false front there was a number pad.

Ron swiftly took out a small device while Rufus used his claws to unscrew the pad from the wall. Once it was loose enough, Ron was able to get at the wires behind and pulled them out far enough so the breaker could connect to them. Once the device was connected, he switched it on, letting it do the work of cracking the code. After a few moments, the door slid down into the ground with a soft hiss. Retracting the tool, the two ninja slipped inside while the rat screwed the pad back into place. With all three inside, they pressed inward.

Their path led them down at an angle till it came to an intersection, allowing them to only turn left or right. Taking the right passageway the trio crept along the bending path till they came to a doorway that looked out into a large and darkened room. Yori whispered, "This seems too easy."

Not having any better ideas, they snuck into the room, keeping to its walls. There in the center of the room was Shego's jet. There was no mistaking its black and green color scheme.

"Almost like all of the security is off," Ron answered back in a hushed tone.

"That's because it is," an English accented voice said. As soon as the words were out, the lights in the underground hanger came to life, momentarily blinding the three. Even blinded, they immediately moved into battle stances. When their vision cleared, they were surrounded by black garbed men holding guns. "We took the liberty of disarming this facility's defenses, granting you two swifter access to here."

Ron growled out, "Draken set us up!"

"You do not need to worry if Doctor Lipsky betrayed you. Simply put, he didn't." The manner that the black garbed man was speaking to the two teens seemed to indicate some sort of armed service training. "We've been tracking you since you arrived tonight in Fiumicino Airport."

The blond squinted through his mask at the armed man who was talking. "You're not GJ are you." It was more of a statement than a question.

"No. We are in fact allies of a sort. We have mutual friends, friends that would like to meet with you. In a show of good will, my men and I will lower our weapons, if you choose to accompany us."

Not seeing a better choice, the trio let themselves be directed by their new found 'allies'. Soon everyone was up in the arena grounds, just waiting. Right before Ron was about to open his mouth, there was the sound of helicopter blades. Looking up into the sky, they could make out a black helicopter making its way towards them. When it landed, the leader of the armed men went over to the side door and opened it and helped Yori get in, saying, "Ladies first." Ron simply glared at the action from behind his mask as he followed.

When everyone was on and ready to go, the helicopter took off, heading due east. After a few minutes of silence Ron asked, "Where are we headed?"

"You'll find out when we get there," the pilot answered, "Should be there soon."

True to the pilot's words, their destination appeared only moments later. Dawn was beginning to crest over the horizon, throwing beams of sunlight to elegantly reflect off the majestic dome of Saint Peter's Basilica. The light gleamed from the dome, splaying across the basilica grounds highlighting the greenery. The plants seemed to stretch heavenward, as though welcoming the new arrivals.

The helicopter moved in to land in front of the building that stood behind the Basilica. The structure appeared miniscule next to the immensity of Saint Peter's Basilica, but it was large in its own right. The building was primarily used for governmental and political events, so bringing two non citizens here wasn't incredibly surprising. Everyone silently piled out and walked into the building. Ron and Yori followed behind the soldier that was obviously the one in command of the unit. After passing through the twisting hallways, the soldier opened a door and stood beside it at attention. The ninja looked behind them to discover the other guards had at sometime disappeared.

Shrugging, the blond walked into the recently opened room. The back of an extravagant chair blocked the majority of Ron's view. A fireplace could be seen behind the only person visible. It was an elderly man wearing clothes of the clergy, sitting across from the chair that took up a large portion of space. His old face split into a friendly smile as he greeted the newcomers, "Hello, I'm Cardinal Vladimir Augustus. I'm certain you know Betty Director." The old man nodded his head towards the chair before him. Standing from the chair was a tall brunette. Turning to face the two, her one eye took them both in, and a small smile threatened to sneak out. It really was none other than Doctor Director herself.

"Ronald, I'm glad you could make it." Betty extended her hand to shake his. "And Yori as well." She bowed her head in acknowledgement.

Yori responded in kind before her soft voice asked, "I am to guess that you are the 'mutual friend' our helpful guard informed us of?"

"Yes, I am one of your allies. The other would be standing behind you, skulking in the shadows," the one eyed woman said.

Amazingly enough, a figure did emerge from the darkened corner. The woman's green and black cat suit was what first caught the ninja's eyes, causing them to gasp in surprise. Her green tinted skin and raven black hair only further confirmed the lurker's identity as a smirk formed across Shego's black lips. "Hello, kiddies," her sultry voice called out.

A/N: Well there's 8. Sorry Shego didn't show up until the very end but things took longer than I expected them to. Yeah… I'm not Catholic so if I did anything stupid or misnamed a part of the Vatican City go ahead and tell me.

(1) –hikoku: title used for a criminal


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Notes: Fucking sonofabitch! Writing this took more than I thought it would, both in the physical length of it and in time of completing it. I apologize for not getting this out when I said I would. I'm getting painfully close to starting the **real** bit of this fic, so bear with me as I get there. (Hell, it might even be next chapter) Anyways, here's the chapter. Hope it was worth the wait. Oh and really really big thanks to Rebelrsr. She's been have a somewhat hectic time, so for her to make room and check this for me is a big thing.

Shego continued to smirk at the shocked expressions the two ninja were sporting before turning her attention to the ex-Global Justice Director. "They're here now, Bets. Think we can get to the maiming and killing of the Council, now?"

Doctor Director just looked blandly at the villainess. "We have to find them first, Shego." When the plasma wielder began to growl, Betty just ignored her off. "Our first order of business is to bring our new allies up to speed on the current situation." Looking at the two sitting, she continued, "As I'm certain you're aware, Global Justice is under new management. We don't know who they are, where they are, or what their true goal is. What we do know is they go by the title of The Council, and after the assignation of Ms. Possible, they went silent. This does include all of Global Justice, meaning no one is policing the planet."

Yori had since managed to regain her composure, but Ron was still helplessly lost. Looking between Betty and Shego, he scratched his head. "Ooookkkaayy. I get why you're here," pointing at the one eyed woman, "But you make no sense." He eyed the pale green woman suspiciously. "Don't get me wrong, you being here is a good thing, but you teaming up with Doctor Director is a shock."

"Well, Ronald, it seems that Shego had been seeking me out since Kimberly's murder." Catching sight of the dangerous glare Shego was aiming at her, the ex-director decided to change the focus of the conversation. "Why were you looking for Shego, though? When I received a message from the head of the Yamanouchi, I became quite curious."

Again Ron was shocked. That his Sensei had ways of contacting such a woman as Betty Director wasn't that unexpected, but that he had also known where Shego was came as a major surprise. He knew he couldn't do anything about this other than make a choice: either roll with it or continue gawking like an idiot. So he made his choice. He closed his eyes and schooled his face into that of a calm state, using one of the meditation techniques he had learned at Yamanouchi. (Come on Ron, no more being the slacker. You could do that when KP was around, but now you have to grow up for her.)

Opening his eyes he met Betty's single one. "I've been training, working at becoming strong enough to do something about KP's death." Taking a breath, he continued, "But it seems like something has been holding me back - I haven't come to terms with Kim being dead."

There was silence for a moment then Shego spoke in a quiet voice. "Trust me, Stoppable, she's gone."

"I know that," he said in an exasperated tone. "I mean, they came to Mrs. P's home and told her that all they could find of Kim was her arm! They told her mother the only thing left of her daughter was her arm!" Shaking his head to calm down again, Ron said in a more controlled voice, "I came looking for you because you were with her last - when she died. I want to know," Ron said pleadingly as he looked at Shego.

Images of a red head kneeling on the ground with a river of blood flowing between her breasts and a trickle out of the corner of her mouth flashed through the thief's mind. Turning a deeper shade of green, Shego shook her head. "No, buffoon, you don't want to know."

The blond's pleading look changed to one of righteous fury as he stood up. "Damn it, Shego! She was my best friend since we were kids and now she's dead! I wasn't even there. I did nothing to help her." Tears began to spill down his face as grief began to overpower anger, "I just ran like the coward I've always been."

"Ron-kun, that is not true," Yori denied vehemently. "What kind of coward goes with their (1)shinyuu into life threatening places for no other reason than being their friend? You followed where Possible-san led without question, and no one could ask for a more honorable person than that."

"She's right, Stoppable. Plus, there really was nothing you could've done," Shego said, not meeting Ron's eyes.

Ron just hung his head, "Can't you at least tell me what happened?" he asked with his face hidden. Silence hung in a thick cloud around the small group.

A certain pair of emerald eyes continued to stare at Shego through her memories as she sat before the blond. Suddenly, she let out a long sigh breaking the quiet. "Alright, I'll tell you. Everyone else, out," she said, pointing toward the door with a slender finger. "This is between Stoppable and me."

Vladimir, who had been sitting quietly as the drama unfolded before him, stood and walked through the doorway to wait patiently outside. He was rapidly followed by Yori and Betty. When the old man started heading off, the women stepped in behind him.

Leading them to what appeared to be a blank wall, he reached over and pulled on an antique candle holder. It shifted forward, and a grinding sound was heard by the three. Slowly, the wall in front of them slid into the ground, exposing a stone stairwell that led down into an inky blackness. A damp and musty smell filled the air when the passage was revealed. Ignoring the odor, the three descended in silence.

Ron sat back down across from Shego so that they were on opposite sides of the fireplace. "Ok, Stoppable, what do you want to know?" the thief asked in a sarcastic tone.

"I-I'm not sure," he started uncertainty. Looking anywhere that wasn't Shego, he asked, "I guess: did she say anything?"

Once again, memories played through Shego's mind. This time of the redhead begging with her, pleading with her to run. Placing her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands, she mumbled out, "Yeah, Princess said something. Run, that was it."

(Run? That's all she said? That doesn't even make sense,) Ron thought in confusion. Staring blankly at the wall behind Shego, he continued with his questions. "How'd it happen?"

The thief was silent again as the fateful battle replayed itself in her head. "I got sloppy. I wasn't fast enough and caught a bullet in my leg. Pumpkin flew across the room to save me," (Why'd she do that? We were enemies. Right?) "Doing that cost her her arm." Shego just kept her head in her hands as her voice choked up. "I tried. I really did. I did everything I could to protect her, but it wasn't enough." Looking up, she met Ron's eyes; he saw they were filled with self loathing. "You never had a chance to help her. I did… and I failed." Disgust choked her words.

Anger gripped Ron. Shego was acting like it had been so horrible for her, and she wasn't even Kim's friend. Hell, she was her freaking arch-nemesis; she was probably just sad that it wasn't her that killed Kim. "That's it?" he asked heatedly. "Woe is you for watching **Kim** die!?" (How could Kim have given her life for this filth!)

Shego's eyes widened in shock at the blond's insult, but that emotion was quickly overcome by anger as she stood up. "What? You think I'm looking for pity? You're the one who wanted to know about Kimmie's death," she practically growled. Then understanding flashed through her eyes, but that, too, was rapidly replaced by rage. Her hands ignited as she continued to let her fury build. "You wanted to know that she died for something greater than me. Like something to believe in!? Well, here – Live a hero, be betrayed a hero, and die a hero!" The glow on her hands grew brighter to punctuate each hero. "There's your fucking greater reason!" she screamed at Ron.

Ron stood up and was about to yell a retort at the pale thief when there was a discreet knock at the door. It opened a crack to reveal a short, young man peering nervously into the room. His tonsure gave him the appearance of being older than he was, but his lack of experience, and age, was obvious. Hiding his twitching hands in the large sleeves of his robes, he stuttered out, "Umm… Car-cardinal Augustus wish-wishes to meet with bo-oth of you in the S-ssaint George Meeting Hall. He re-requests your presence as-as soon as possible." He waited quietly, practically shaking from hearing the raised voices.

Shego calmed down considerably with the interruption of the young priest as she remembed who she was yelling at. (Princess wouldn't be very happy with me if I flash fried her sidekick.) She snuffed out the fires on her fists, but she did keep up a death glare on the blond. Ron opened his mouth, but Shego cut him off. "Shove it, buffoon. I told you what you wanted." Moving her glare from Ron to the young priest, she saw him flinch at the look. Not bothering to change her expression in the least, she motioned for him to move, "Come on, kid. Where's the stupid George Hall?"

Seeing that Shego wasn't going to be saying anything more about Kim's death right now, Ron nodded his head to the young man and crossed his arms over his chest. The priest let out his breath, glad nothing had gone badly. Turning around he started to leave the room but then remembered his manners. "Pl-please, follow me."

As the two began to follow the priest, Shego started to think on what she said to Ron. "Live a hero, be betrayed a hero, and die a hero! There's your fucking greater reason!" (Why did I tell him that? It's not like he had a right to know.) Then an old wizened voice from just a few months ago sounded in her mind (You'll need to open to someone. Or you'll lose yourself.) Shego just shook her head at the memory. (Stupid old hag. Even halfway across the world and she's still telling me what to do.) Letting her mind wander over the past few months she remembered her search to find Betty, and those she met along the way.

-----

Her memory picked up right after she got on her motorcycle. Riding at speeds that would be suicidal, Shego headed for Go City. She was reluctant to go to her home city, but her fevered mind was already working on a plan. She needed someone who was still accepted as the 'good guys' to get things started. That left only one group of people that she had a touch of trust - her brothers. It took her a little over three hours to reach the outskirts of Go City from Draken's lair, making it near the heart of night. When she reached the city, she didn't even bother to slow down from her break neck speeds. Racing through the streets, she made it across the bridge to the Go Tower in record time. Hardly breaking stride, she leapt from her bike and stormed toward the main gate. As she strode to the door, she threw a ball of plasma at the signature reader causing it to explode and send the doors flying open. With the reader nothing but charred slag, Shego marched into the tower to the sound of alarms.

Entering the main meeting room, she had to wait a moment before a great hulking, bleary eyed man charged in with his blue-tinged hair waving messily in his face. The only thing he was wearing was boxers and cobalt glowing fists. "Halt, you vandal!" was his 'heroic' entrance line, or at least that's what it was supposed to be. Instead, it came out something closer to a slurred, "Hal, you candle!"

Another young man came in a moment later in purple pajamas and combing his hair. "Hego, what the hell is with the alarms? You know I need another eight hours for my beauty sleep!"

Following the arrival of the purple one were two younger twins. They were the only ones that had some semblance of being ready for an attack. They had on everyday clothes; though, it was more likely from just now heading to sleep rather than quickly becoming prepared. Seeing the one that was attacking them was Shego, they shouted in unison, "Shego! You're back!"

Suddenly everyone's undivided attention was on the new arrival and apparent source of the alarm. All four of them started speaking at once. Asking questions like: where have you been?, why are you bleeding?, what crime did you commit now? The usual. Which called for the pale woman's own usual response.

"All of you, SHUTUP!" she screamed. Her head was already pounding due to her adrenaline rush having died off sometime during the trip and now having her brothers blabbing at her really did nothing to help. Knowing she now had them silent and listening she told them, "GJ's gone fucking nuts! They just tried to kill me an-"

The purple man cut Shego off mid-sentence. "Nothing's new with that sis. I mean-"

A green burning ball flew within inches of his head, completely silencing him. "It's fucking different this time, Mego!! They fucking killed my Kimmie!" she yelled. A sudden wave of nausea accompanied that fact. The thief wavered in place till she leaned against the wall. "Princess is dead," she said in a softer voice.

"What? You mean that nice girl that helped when you had stolen our powers?" Hego asked

"Yes, you thick headed fuck-wad. Who the hell else would I be talking about?" Shego said in a seething voice. Shaking her head to clear it, the thief pushed off from the wall and stood up straighter. "I need Team Go to do a little recon for me. I need you to look into Global Justice to see what's changed. Them trying to kill me is one thing, actively trying to kill Kim and succeeding is something else entirely." She was practically growling at the end.

Hego, as dense as he was, saw this had seriously upset his sister, even to the point she was coming to her siblings for help. Granted, it didn't quite look like she was asking so much as commanding, but it was the same for his sister. "We'll do it. Global Justice must be made to answer for Ms. Possible's death. Right now though, we have to patch you up."

When he moved to grab her arm, Shego swatted his hand away. "Dimmit, Hego, you don't get it! You won't just be able to go up to GJ and ask them 'why'd you kill Kim?' Hell, they probably have her murder pinned on me!"

Mego looked a bit hesitant. "You… you didn't, did you?" Seeing her face darken with an incredible anger - he knew he had asked the wrong question and immediately started scurrying backwards away from the green woman.

"God, no! You stupid, fucking, self-centered little nat!" she hollered at the purple man. Engulfing her hands in her plasma, she began to stalk towards Mego.

Seeing their sister's hands flare up again, the twins moved to intervene. "Hey, sis, those wounds look pretty bad. We should get you to the med wing," both said at the same time.

Looking at the pair of Wegos, Shego gave one last death glare at Mego and let the flames around her hands dissipate. "Fine, let's go." When they had left the two other siblings in the room behind, Shego said one more thing to the twins. "Make sure they keep a low profile. I'm not sure how GJ will react."

Shego stayed at the tower for only another day before leaving again. The sun had long since dropped below the horizon, and night ruled. Heading north, Shego hoped to reach Upperton before daybreak, but it looked like she'd be hard pressed to make that.

The sun's rays were starting to fall over the expansive city just as the villainess made it to her first destination. It appeared to be a normal hotel, if a little shoddy, complete with the usual rundown neon sign saying OTEL. Stepping into lobby, there were only the counter attendant and another man sitting on a bench to the side of the door. The one near the door was as big as a linebacker and trying hopelessly to appear as though he wasn't watching the newcomer. While, on the other hand, the old man at the counter did a much better job of appearing natural and quite distracted by the newspaper he held. When Shego approached the counter, the hotel manager didn't even look up when he said, "Hello, Ms. Shego, seems like Draken's lair was destroyed. Your room has already been prepared." Still keeping his eyes on his paper he reached out to grab something under the desk. Pulling out a keycard, he slid it onto the counter towards the pale woman, then replaced his hand back on his paper. "Please enjoy your stay at Hench-co's Safe-hotel."

Grunting in reply Shego only mumbled, "Thanks, Benny." Grabbing the card, she moved to the single elevator. Riding it to the fourth floor she got out and checked out her room. Draken still hadn't shown up; that meant either he got caught by the new GJ or he was just taking his usual idiotic time in getting to their meeting place. Shrugging her shoulders, she left and locked the door. She'd be in town for a while so there was still a chance that the blue imbecile would show up.

Her second destination was located in the criminal undercity of Upperton. It was, in fact, literally under the city. The specific destination was the head of the World Wide Evil Empire. Getting into the secret headquarters was surprisingly easy. Then again, that might have just been because Shego was so good at what she did – sneaking into places where she wasn't supposed to be. Reaching her ultimate destination, she slipped into the room of the WWEE leader.

Sheldon 'Gemini' Director was certainly not expecting to have a meeting today, much less one with Shego herself. Since the murder of Kim Possible, she had become the number one most wanted villain in not only her original eleven countries, but nearly every single one that was on the UN charter (and even some that weren't). When Shego appeared in his personal office, his one eye widened in surprise before quickly recovering himself. His mechanical right hand clattered quietly against his desk as he waited for the infamous thief to stand in the middle of the room. He greeted her accordingly of her new position, "So, Shego, what do I owe the pleasure of meeting with the most wanted criminal in the entire world and killer of the legendary Kim Possible? Oh, and remind me before you leave to have the head of security executed."

At the killer comment, glowing eyes glared at the criminal mastermind. Stalking towards Gemini's desk, she said, "I came here to warn you and for you to give me some info."

"And what do you have to warn me of? I have eyes and ears everywhere," he said carelessly. "There is nothing you could know that I don't already. So I doubt you have anything to bargain with."

"I said nothing about bargaining, Sheldon Dir-ec-tor," she annunciated Director clearly for the mastermind, just to be certain he understood what she was talking about. That got a reaction from the criminal, his flesh hand moved to reach under the desk. But before he could even reach the lip of the desk Shego was leaning over his desk with a single glowing fist. The heat pouring off from the plasma was more than enough reason for Gemini to stop moving. "I wouldn't do that, Shelbie. I'm not here to hurt you, unless of course you do something stupid or tell me something I don't like." Pulling back she lit up her other hand and drew them together to crack her knuckles as she started, "Now I'm not sure how close of tabs you keep on your dear sister, but I wanted to tell you her pet project killed Kimmie. I didn't kill her; it was her fucking toy soldiers going at both of us with lethal weapons." Shego carefully watched Gemini's face to see if any of this was new to him. Going by his facial reactions, it was. "What I want you to tell me is where Bets is."

"My sister was removed from her place as head of Global Justice nearly a month ago," Gemini said. "Since her removal, I didn't think GJ would pose much of a threat so I've scaled down my reconnaissance of them. Whoever they are must be incredibly incompetent to not only miss their desired target but also kill their greatest tool."

"It wasn't unintentional. They were targeting her as much as me, if not more." As Shego said this, she was thinking on the head of GJ. (If she was removed that long ago then she wasn't calling the shots.) "Now, tell me where Betty is," she repeated.

Gemini placed his human hand on his chin and stroked his mustache. "Hmm, what do you plan on doing with her?"

"Do you honestly want to know? Because I can very easily show you," she said letting plasma drip from her right hand onto his desk. Even a small droplet of the super heated substance quickly burned through the red oak desk, giving off an acrid smell.

"Eh, very well." He gave in, with hardly a second thought. "Needed to give the appearance of sibling love and all that. I don't know her exact location, but there is someone who might. She's something of a… friend of the family."

(1)Shinyuu – best friend

Author's notes: I'm actually planning on working on the next chapter of Pure next. So, the next chapter up will be Truth's 10. After that it'll be Fallen.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's notes: HAHAHA I live!!! Or rather my muse does. Anyway I'm kinda back to working on my fics. I have a new beta reader – DawnBTVS. They're a great help. Well on with the story.

After leaving the WWEE compound Shego returned to the safe-hotel. The 'Great Blue' still hadn't shown up so the thief started getting things ready to leave for her flight to the Director's contact. On the day that she was going to leave for China Draken came flopping through the door.

The cerulean tinged man walked into Shego's room finding her back facing him packing a duffel bag. "Shego! You made it!" he said with surprise written on his face.

Not looking up from the bag, Shego continued to stuff clothes into it. "Doy, of course I made it. I'm actually amazed **you** got away from those goons."

"You really should have greater faith in your employer," Drakken whined. After a pause he asked, "Um… is it really true? Is she out of our hair forever?"

The pale woman stopped mid action. Placing the clothes back on the bed, she replied in an emotionless voice, "Yeah, she's dead, Doc."

"Yeessss!!!!" The blue man cheered and started dancing around in a small circle. Looking over at Shego he noticed she still hadn't moved since answering him. Stopping his rejoicing he went over to his sidekick and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Shego, are you alright? You know you can tell me if something's bothering you, evil family and all that." He heard something from the pale woman but he couldn't make it out. "What was that Shego? I didn't hear you."

In a soft whisper, she repeated, "They killed her. They killed my Kimmie." Her voice grew stronger as anger boiled up inside her. "I was the one who was going to kill Princess. Not some faceless fucker with a gun!" At this point Shego's plasma burst into life and Drakken jumped a good three feet from her and landed on his ass in fear. "No one was worthy of her, only me!" As sudden as her plasma and anger appeared they vanished just as quickly. Her voice died down and she repeated in a whisper, "Only me," as tears spilt down her face.

Wiping her face, Shego returned to packing her bag. "I need some answers, so I'm going to be leaving for a while Doctor D. Keep your head down and watch out for GJ." She zipped the bag shut and walk past Drakken, just as he was getting up from the floor, to the door. Opening it she paused for a moment in the doorway before striding through and shutting it.

Drakken only managed a small wave as his brain tried to process what just happened. "I hope I see you again Shego," he said to an empty room.

The stealth fighter flew unnoticed over the night draped Hong Kong as it swiftly moved closer to its destination. Not having been picked up on any radar or other means wasn't all too surprising being that the jet was an experimental fighter of the US Air Force. Shego only played with the best and most cutting edge toys available. Once she was over downtown Hong Kong, Shego used the VTOL engine to drop the jet into a walled in courtyard that had an attached dojo. As soon as the jet touched ground four turrets came out of the ground at each of the corners with armed men pouring onto the battlements.

Once the jet cooled down enough the cockpit slid up and moved forward with a hiss. Shego stood up and was the first to say anything. "I'm looking for Xiao, Daiyu"

"And who exactly would be looking for her?" A great giant of a man asked from the entrance to the dojo.

"An acquaintance of the Director's. Now where is she?" Shego sharply commanded.

The guard cocked his head to a side in thought, before asking, "Which Director?"

"Both. Now get Xiao out here or I'll teach you a more personal way to walk on fire," the villain said as her left hand lit up.

The big man's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the green flame but the door behind him slid open allowing him to step to the side as a woman in a Shaolin monk robe came out. Her graying hair covered one eye and fell down below her waist. The one eye that the thief could see had a knowing glint to it, as though the woman knew far beyond what a mere mortal should know. "Now why would the world famous Shego be looking for an old woman?"

Locking eyes with the woman, Shego demanded, "I need to know where Betty is."

Taking in Shego for another second before turning her back on her and walking back into the dojo, she said over her shoulder, "Hmm… I fail to see why I should tell you anything."

Shego was caught off guard by the sudden dismissal. Growling she let her other hand become incased with her fire. "Because, old hag, if you don't I'll show you what a plasma enema is like!"

Xiao shook her head at the threat. Mumbling, " Young people, always thinking violence solves everything."

Taking an active effort to control her anger, Shego snuffed out her plasma but kept her fists balled. In a much calmer tone she said, "Look, I just want to know where Betty is so I can get to the maiming and killing, alright?"

Chuckling under her breath, the old woman commented, " Violence now, just to achieve more violence later."

"You don't know anything about this! Just tell me where she is!" Shego pressed.

Turning around to face Shego, Xiao looked pointedly at her. "Perhaps if you told me what this was about then I might consider answering your question."

Shego's fists shook as her anger surged again. This time she didn't bother holding back and lunged at the gray-haired woman with a snarl. Her fist cut through the air as it flew straight for Xiao's face.

With a hair's breadth between Shego's fist and Xiao's face, the old master moved her head just enough to dodge the attack. Shego didn't let the unexpected move deter her and struck out again. Snapping her right leg up in a sharp front kick the old woman took a single step to the left to avoid it. Growling in aggravation Shego threw her left leg out in a tight roundhouse. Seeing the kick coming Xiao again took the smallest amount of effort to take her out of danger, which was a simple back step. Aft the three attacks were dodged effortlessly Shego let her hands be wreathed in her plasma and sent a flurry of punches at the old woman. And again Xiao moved the bare minimum distance needed to avoid all of Shego's punches.

Still looking unimpressed as she continued to evade Shego's attacks Xiao said, "Driving yourself so single-mindedly towards your goal is both admirable and foolish. If you're not aware of your surroundings you're bound to miss things."

"I'm plenty aware of my surroundings, old hag. There are eight armed men within striking range of me; fourteen up on the battlements; four heavy machinegun turrets aimed at my jet; and one old hag unwilling to tell me what I need," Shego snapped back even while she threw strikes that were still not getting any closer.

Sighing as Shego shot out a kick aimed at her legs, Xiao jumped as she responded. "There is more to your surrounding than just simply enemies and various implements to help you defeat them. There is life all around you, swirling emotions that encompass all existence."

The green woman stopped for a moment and looked at Xiao with her head cocked to one side and confusion on her face. "What the hell?" she yelled. "I don't have time for this cryptic key-to-enlightenment bullshit." Throwing a plasma encased fist at Xiao's chest, Shego commanded, "Just tell me where Betty is!"

The old woman didn't even flinch as the deadly limb came at her. Moving like water the master weaved out of place and reached out with her hand, gripping Shego's forearm with her left. In one single motion she jerked the villain forward while sending a right hammerfist into her stomach. Still having hold of Shego's arm Xiao twirled around behind her, forcing Shego to lose balance and fall and her face. "You'll need to open to someone. Or you'll lose yourself," Xiao said with a look disinterest as Shego tried to pull air into her lungs.

Once Shego regained the ability to breathe she started to push herself back up. "It's a month too late for that," she muttered.

An eye brow quirked up and a hint of a smile appeared. "Oh?" Xiao asked, "What was that?"

"Nothing, hag. Look, all I want is Betty's location," Shego harshly. "So I can get my revenge party underway," she said under her breath in English. "I'll leave after you tell me."

The old master picked up everything Shego said, and more importantly understood it all. "If all you want is where Director is, then I can't help you," she said, turning away. "I don't know where she is."

"What!?" Shego roared. "What do you mean you don't know where she is?"

"Exactly what I said– I do not know where Director is," Xiao said simply.

Unintelligible growls and snarls came from the green villainess. "This is what I get for believing that one-armed Cyclops." Pointing a finger at Xiao's back, she snarled, "If I find out you were lying you'll be lucky if you get away with only third-degree burns." Spinning on her heel, Shego started to stalk back to her jet.

"I said **I** don't know where Director is," Xiao said over her shoulder. Shego pulled up short. "A member of the British parliament was a good friend of Director, so he may know where she is." Shego just snorted and started walking again before halting again at Xiao's voice. "Know this though, revenge will only destroy you. Whoever you lost is gone and not matter what you do, you can't bring them back."

The next two months were spent running around the globe searching for Betty's contacts. Britain led to a member of Germany's counterintelligence. That one led Shego back across the Atlantic to a contact in the CIA. It was the contact in the CIA that gave the villain a vague lead to Italy. Shego had been flying towards Italy as she sarcastically repeated what the CIA operative said, "I heard that the Vatican's guards have been acting differently. Not by much but it's similar to how GJ use to work in the old days." Gorwling angrily she muttered, "Betty had better be here. Can't believe I'm actually running around the earth for the one eyed Cyclops." That was how Shego found herself entering the Saint George Meeting Hall with Ron Stoppable of all people. Opening the door before her led her into a large room. It was similar to a widened hallway, being far longer that it was wide. White wood paneling with gold trim covered the walls. Spanning a length of the room was a rich mahogany table. At the far end of the table were Betty, Yuri, and Vladimir. The three were standing and discussing several documents that were resting on the table.

When the door shut audibly behind Shego, the three stopped and looked up from their conversation. "Ah, Shego, Ronald, I'm glad you're here. We were discussing which locations would be best to monitor," Betty calmly stated.

Shego's attention went directly to the Director. "What do we have for marks?" she asked.

Frowning at the term, Betty went on to detail, "One in Munich, Germany, another in Osaka, Japan, and one last one in London, England. Munich's front appears as a bar named The Coin. Average two story building with numerous exit and entrance points. The front in Osaka is an upper-class brothel. One story, yet it spreads out over two acres. The final one in London is an office building belonging to Revel Security Corporation. Fourteen stories tall and again covering two acres."

Yuri immediately spoke up, "The Yamanouchi will gladly help in observing the possible Council front in Osaka."

Nodding in agreement, Vladimir ventured, "I have contacts that could easily work to gather information on the one in Germany. It may take some time to convince them but I believe they will do it."

Seeing the last remaining option, Ron simply said, "So that leaves England to us."

"Correct," Betty responded. "There were five other high potential fronts yet our limited Intel suggests that these are our best chances. We have limited man power so it may take some time to go through all of our leads."

"That's a lot of ground to cover," Shego said as she picked up the file on London. Still looking at it she asked, "What are we looking for?"

"Hopefully some hint as to where an actual cell of the Council is," Betty answered, "We'll see what our next move is from there."

More Author's Notes: By the way the next fic I'm working on is One Last Reason. I won't be giving an update time but I hope it will be up in the next few weeks.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Notes: I know it's been a while but I hope this specific chapter makes up for some of the lateness. There's something of a surprise in this chapter and I'd like to know what people thought of it. As usual big thanks to my beta reader Rebelrsr.

The black helicopter flew through the London night skyline before setting down within the walls of the Tower of London. Four people and a mole rat stepped off the helli. Betty looked over her shoulder and gave the pilot the thumbs up, signaling it to take the sky. Shego, dressed in black jeans and a deep green hoodie, spoke up once the roar of the helicopter was gone, "Hey, I've got to go pick up something. Bets, why don't you go and check into our hotel."

Betty frowned at the nick name and Shego's apparent desire to run off on her own. Her own clothes were generic blue jeans and blue sweater. The frown stayed on her face as she nodded, "Fine. While I go obtain our lodgings you two will scout out the target building," pointing to Ron and Yuri, who were also dressed in civvies, "Meet back at the Apex Hotel in four hours." Without even looking back to check if the group was doing as directed Betty headed off.  
"Huh, something tells me she's not happy," Ron commented.

"Well, she does have to work with you," Shego taunted.

"That's doubtful Shego-san," Yori snapped back. "It's far more likely that dealing with your overinflated ego for the entirety of our trip here has shortened her temper."

"Oh, your little ninja doll does have some teeth, buffoon," the thief mocked.

Ron sighed as the two started up again just as they had for the majority of their flight to the Tower. " Shego, come on, stop making Yori angry," he pled.

The pale woman looked at Ron for a moment before snorting dismissively. "I've got my own shit to get done anyway." With that Shego left.

Ron just blinked. Ruffus popped out of the leg pocket of the blond's cargos. Looking up towards his master the mole-rat chattered, "She-go nice?"

The blond simply shrugged and turned to Yori. "You ready to start scopin this place out?"

"Hai," was the small response from the kunoichii.

Making her way through the city of London, Shego picked up her conversation with herself again. She seemed to be doing it more and more often since Kimmie's death. 'The only reason we-er I stopped was because the buffoon asked,' she growled at her conscience.

'Yeah, and when was the last time you did something simply because someone asked?' the little aggravating voice questioned.

'They're been plenty of times!' Shego tried to defend herself but even she knew how horrible her excuse was. Her conscience didn't even bother with a response as it merely looked at her blandly. 'Alright, so there might be something more to it,' she added grudgingly.

'Yeah and that something has to do with Pumpkin,' the voice prodded.

'What!? How'd you get from Stoppable to Princess?' Shego thought skeptically.

'Well they were together all the time. But again, there's something more to this than just that,' the voice counseled.

'You mean like they were together-together?' Shego asked.

The voice smacked herself in the face. 'No, you twit. They were special to each other.'

'Ok fine, he was Kimmie's." The thief paused. "So that means I'm being nice to him out of respect for her?' Shego said uncertainly.

'Now we're getting somewhere,' the voice said happily.

Just as Shego's conscience said that, Shego herself stepped into the building she had been heading to. It was a large warehouse, easily spanning several acres and standing around four stories. Near the door Shego had entered was a desk with a man reading a newspaper and appearing to be oblivious to his surroundings. He looked suspiciously like the man that had been at the Hench-Co's Safehouse. "Hello, Shego. Your shipment arrived late last night." He lifted one hand away from his paper to reach into a drawer and take out a key. Still not looking away from his paper he said, "Cage S-0. I hope you will do business with Hench-Co's Discreet Delivery Service again".

"Thanks, Danny," was all Shego said as she scooped up the key and headed to her designated cage. In the middle of the cage was a large crate, which Shego quickly took apart thanks to her claws and plasma. When the box was gone, the thief's motorcycle stood next to her in pristine condition. Placing a hand gently on the gas tank, Shego happily stroked the bike. Moving past the bike, the pale woman pushed a button on the wall which began opening a garage door. Getting astride the Kawasaki, she revved the engine and just sat peacefully enjoying the rumblings and purring of the machine beneath her. After sitting for a moment, the thief thumbed the throttle and shot out of the storage building and onto the road, leaving it to someone else to clean up her mess.

Opening the throttle to the max, Shego screamed through the tightly packed European traffic. Making moves that even professional drivers would blanch at, she continued to push her machine and reflexes to the limit. Unwilling to give her conscience even the slightest of footholds, Shego kept her mind fully occupied with the road. Eventually, her blind riding came to an end up on reaching Westminster Bridge. Without even double checking, she moved her bike off the street and onto the pedestrian walkway on the bridge before finally turning the engine off. Looking over the River Thames and Parliament in the near distance, Shego resigned herself to the constant pestering of her conscience. 'You didn't honestly think you could block me out forever?' the voice asked.

'Well, it did cross my mind,' Shego retorted.

'It won't work. So just get used to my advice."

'If what you say could be called advice.'

'It is advice because it's coming from your conscience. Now stop evading the point we made last time, and get back to business. You and I both know Kimmie was more to us than just a rival. Do you really want me to start reciting the list?'

'List? What list?'

'Oh, come on. The list of all the times you've saved Pumpkin from certain death and dismemberment. My favorite just happens to be the last one involving Warmonga.' Numerous times when Shego had pulled back or flat out helped Kim flooded the woman's mind. It was the memory of the fight with Warmonga that became the most detailed, however. She saw the large alien about to deliver the final blow to Kimmie. At the last second, her anger spiked and she destroyed her shackles and blew Warmonga into a wall. _"Oh, no you don't. I'm not going to let this she-thing come waltz in here and destroy Kimmie. That's my job."_

'Oh, yeah, I totally see how I was wanting to save Kimmie.' The sarcasm dripped from Shego's mental voice.

'If you really did want to destroy Kim yourself, why didn't you?' her conscience asked.

Shego really couldn't answer. With the number of times she'd had the opportunity to defeat and kill Kim the evidence certainly pointed in the direction of her caring for the redhead.

Growling at the proof presented to her, Shego started the engine up and spun the tires in place till smoke billowed up. With a quick turn of her wrists, the bike spun around and shot off in the direction she had come.

*****

Ron and Yori left the unofficial helipad and wandered the darken streets with the other tourists to the specified building. The Revel Security Corporation's building was obviously constructed recently having primarily glass-pane walls. It was essentially two separate buildings connected by a huge glass encased corridor. There was only one way into the building with several fire escapes placed around the perimeter of the structure. All of the fire escapes were designed to open only from the inside and that was only once a fire alarm had been sounded. The roof was much the same, zero entrances with just a single fire-escape on either of the main segments. Thankfully, the ninja didn't need to get in, only attach a device, which was given to them by the Vatican's techies, under a security camera to enable their computers to view what Revel's cameras could. As the two crept closer to the building Yori spoke up, "Why is Shego-hikoku aiding in this?"

Not really looking anywhere in particular, "Well, in some ways, she has a larger stake in this than us." Ron answered. "I mean, she was framed for Kim's death and she did always say she wanted to be the one to beat her." Walking closer to the building the two saw that there were no guards outside it. Going under a camera Ron waited for Yori to catch up to him.

"So, it seems somewhat foolish to want to clear her name for Possible-san's murder when she has so much already dirtying her," Yori said as she stepped into the blond's cupped hands.

As Yori pulled out the device Ron hefted her up so she could reach the camera. "Murder's quite a step up from her usual grand-theft and random assault charges. Who knows, maybe it's something like honor among thieves," Ron argued. "Plus she can be a big help getting into places and in a fight. Better to have her with us than against us."

Fiddling with the screws around the camera to access the wires Yori finally managed to attach the item from the Vatican. Replacing everything as it had been she signaled for Ron to lower her. "I do not doubt your tactical reasons for having the thief aid us, but I am wondering why you defend her. Has she not done anything other than try and kill you?" Yori asked.

Ron looked uncomfortable and shrugged. "Losing someone that's pivotal in your life changes you," was all he said.

*****

Parking in the garage under the Apex Hotel, Shego strode over to the elevator. Stepping inside she pushed the button for floor eleven and waited thinking over what her conscience had told her. When the doors dinged open she headed for room 1123. There were three room booked by Betty. 1123 was the main one that had a southward facing window showing Revel Security Corp. and in the middle of the area was an interesting assortment of monitors and controls. All of which were just now blinking and shifting into external and internal views of Revel Security. The other two rooms were for sleeping, Betty and Shego in one, Ron and Yori in the other. Grunting Shego went further into the hotel room. Finding Betty reading over the files with a cup of coffee, the thief coughed to get her attention. "Looks like the ninja got into the cameras."

"Alright, I'll take first watch then, when they come in I'll tell them to wake you and get some rest," Betty said.

"Fine by me," Shego answered and went on to find the shared room with the beds.

It was several hours later that the raven haired woman was woken up. "Betty told us to get you up and send you to her," Ron said as he pulled his hand away from her shoulder.

'Whoa, must be really out of it if the buffoon got that close without me noticing,' Shego thought blearily. "Fine. I'll go see what Cyclops wants," she grumbled.

Shuffling out of the room Shego made it to the one with the monitors. "What do you want Bets?" she asked.

Glaring at the woman before starting Betty said, "You're on watch. Keep an eye on the screens for two hours and then get Ron. After him it's Yori. If you see anything, wake everyone." Standing up Betty brushed passed the thief.

"What's her problem?" Shego asked herself. Shrugging she sat down at the monitors and worked to get herself comfortable, because she had a feeling it was going to be a long two hours.

She couldn't have been more right. Two hours and a lot nothing slowly crept by. Yawning from boredom, Shego got up and made her way to where Ron and Yori were sleeping. Opening the door and flicking on the light, Shego stood in the doorway. Two beds were positioned on opposite sides of the room. Ron, twisted around in his sheets, was to Shego's left while Yori, sleeping peacefully under her sheets, was to her right. Yori immediately opened her eyes when the lights turned on but Ron was different. Even Rufus got up and skittered around to the blond's head scratching the sleep out of his eyes. The little rodent poked Ron a few times yet not much happened. After watching Ron just roll around on the bed and moan something about it not being Monday Shego finally spoke up. "Hey, buffoon, get up. Your turn to watch."

Ron's sudden spasm and abrupt jump out of bed caused Rufus to be catapulted into the room. Ron looked around in a haze. "Huh, wha? Shego in my room?"Finally, his eyes and mind cleared enough to recognize Shego in the doorway - and where he was. "Oh… yeah…" he said with noticeable discomfort. Looking down at his feet to avoid Shego's eyes, he realized he was only in his boxers. In another flurry of motion Ron dove under the sheets. "Umm, Shego, do you mind leaving? I kinda need pants on."

Yori actually let a small giggle escape before covering her mouth with a fist.

Sighing -in annoyance - Shego acceded. "Yeah, yeah. Just remember it's your turn to watch."

The blond watched Shego leave before getting up again and finding his pants and shirt. When Ron lifted his shirt from the floor, he found a dazed Rufus laying sprawled out. "Aw, crap; sorry, little buddy," he said, scooping the mole rat up. Carrying his companion into the room with the monitors, he sat down and set the mole rat on the small desk space available. Rufus by now had shaken himself and sat watching the monitors with his master. "Gonna be a long morning, Rufus," Ron commented as he tried to get more comfortable.

An hour and half into his watch something… different showed up on the feed Ron was getting from Revel Security. A figure walked calmly up the steps leading to the front door. Their clothing was a clear indication they weren't an employee. A grey-smoke colored cloak hung from the person's neck to mid-thigh, and an eerily similar color scheme made up their 'uniform,' for lack of a better word. It had the same color of black and green as Shego's, yet the placement was far different. Instead of the harlequin scheme, the bright green and black were in symmetrical segments. The black was on the upper bicep to the elbow, across the wearer's chest, and down their side to mid-thigh. The last segment of black started a few inches below the sides and ended just above the knee. Separating each of the black parts from the green were gold lines. The largest difference from Shego's was the addition of gear. At their waist was a gold-colored utility belt and there were hardened shoulder plates and gauntlets ending in clawed. Obscuring the figures face was the visage a demon's face, complete with sharp rows of teeth and horns coming off the side of the head and bright green colored hair flowing from it like fire. It was a helm that completely hid the wearer's identity and even their hair – unless, of course, they had it dyed to the same bright green that was on the

Seeing the sure-footed steps and confident stride, Ron knew that person was going to start doing something possibly bad to the Revel Security building. "Guys! Everyone up, we got something, and it looks like it's going to be interesting," he yelled. A few moments later everyone was in the monitor room looking intently at the screens.

On-screen, the Shego-demon marched straight up to the doors. "You don't have any relatives from hell, right Shego?" Ron asked.

Just as Shego was about to answer, the figure lifted their leg up and sent it straight forward into the doors. The heavy double-doors flew into the building. Shego couldn't even find her voice as everyone turned to the feed of the inside of the building. As the figure strode inside, automated turrets sprung up from the ground in the far corners of the entrance. Before they were even fully out, the Shego-demon slowly lifted their left arm, as though they had all the time in the world, and aimed at the left turret with an open palm.

No one believed what happened next.

A glow quite similar to Shego's surrounded their hand and then a ball of plasma flew out and smashed into the turret, melting it into slag. Turning lazily, the figure repeated the action with the same arm. Hurling the burning power at the turret just as it came into position.

Everyone stared at the screen until Betty looked around. Her eye widened as she asked, "Where's Shego?"

*****

"I fail to see how millions in stolen medical technology will help take over the world, my mysterious ally," Senior said.

"It'll help by keeping me alive," the shorter villain answered with a distorted voice. Opening the door in front of them with a push of a button, the cloaked figure gestured forward. "Wisdom before youth."

"Why, thank you." Senior walked through the doorway into a relatively small antechamber. It was circular and arched upward into a dome. All along the walls were computers and strange and futuristic medical equipment. In the center of the room was a chair. It looked something like a throne save, for it was made out of metal and several needles stuck up from the right arm and the sides of the back.

"This is most impressive; yet I was not aware of any problems with your health, my dear shadow," the old Spaniard commented.

"That's because I'm good at covering it. In my betrayal, I was mortally wounded and really shouldn't have lived." The smaller figure walked into the room and strode toward the chair. "This will help extend my life." A hand reached out to brush over the arm and the needles jutting from it. "But the devices Vivian and Wade are working on will return to me the ability to fight." Turning around to face Senior, the shadow reached for its hood. "I think it's about time I tell you who I am. It's only right after you've helped me this far. You see, Triple S, you knew who I used to be. But who I am now is Wraith." At the last word, the figure pulled back the hood, revealing a shock of red hair.

The girl's face bore a resemblance to someone the old man knew, but there were a number of differences. A horrible scar ran from her forehead to her cheek along the left side of her face, destroying the eye. The other remaining eye was still a vibrant green, yet in its center where, kindness had once resided, now a burning hatred reigned.

"Surprised, triple S?" the young girl asked with a slight sneer in her voice.

Taking a step back and gripping his chest, he choked out, "But... but... You're dead. It was broadcasted all over the world that Shego killed you!" Senior rambled.

"Ha!" The harsh laugh erupted from Kim's mouth. "Shego would never have killed me. She never even wanted to. But you're right; I am dead. By all rights my body shouldn't even be moving. Wade was really a genius when he made the battle suit, though." Kim opened the cloak she always wore a little more. It revealed her missing left arm. Where blue stripes had been, now there was just continuous white. "The suit used all of its energy to heal me when I was shot in the chest. It managed to seal over my arm, but it could only really help on the surface damage from the bullet wound. It's pretty much out of juice, which is why I needed this room set up so fast." Looking back at the chair, Kim took off her cloak and sat down in the throne. "The purpose of this is to help pump blood through my veins since my heart can't quite do it anymore. If you'd be so kind, Senior?" the redhead asked, motioning to the needles in the side of the chair.

"Oh, yes, of course," Senior stuttered, caught off guard. "Umm... what is it you need my dear?"

"I need you to grab those needles and pull them out from the chair and place them in certain spots," Kim told him.

"Very well." Grabbing one of the side needles, he pulled and surprisingly it came out without much force; however, it was still attached to the chair by a small hose. Kim directed Senior where to inject each needle into her body. One in each side of her neck; one into each thigh; and three into the center of her chest.

Stepping back, the old man watched as Kim slid her arm into the needles that stuck up from the arm of the chair. After a final hiss of pain, the redhead looked back over to Triple S. "You just need to shut the door, and the system should kick in."

"I will then take my leave then." Bowing as far as his old age would allow, Senior turned and left.

As the door slid shut a soft hum picked up and the clear tubes in Kim filled with a red liquid.

i Kunoichi – female ninja

ii This is my attempt at putting words to Yogurthfrost's pic. Here's the link .com/art/The-Green-Wraith-is-YOU-50783161

Author's Notes: Nother thing I'd like replys on would be the suit description. Thanks and hope you all enjoyed the chapter.


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